Dark Shards: Lights and Shadows
by K.A. Mist
Summary: It didn't take a genius like Light to notice that there was something off about his reflection. For one, he was sure that his eyes were not red. He did not smile like that. Light thought he might be going crazy when it starts to talk to him. (Eventual LxLight) (Also, this is a rewrite of the original)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note**

 **AA/N: This is not exactly a new story, just a rewrite of the original which is now renamed to "Dark Shards: Lights and Shadows (old version)", since some have suggested that I should keep it because of the website's notification issue and as a comparison and etc. So, uh, that's all :P**

* * *

The wicked man stared back at him, his red eyes glowing menacingly as he smiled. The smile wasn't friendly either.

It was a smile full of evil, of malice.

The smile of someone who wants to see the world burn. He could see what it wants, the desire of it mirrors his own.

Justice.

A world without filth or sin.

A clean utopia.

The man - 'it', wants a new world as well. A world without crimes nor sinners. A clean world. But in its version, the only sinner is itself.

A dark shadow was cast across its face, " _We will create this world_."

He stared helplessly at it. Its lips were spread into a wider grin, _"We will rid the world of filth."_

"Filth…" he uttered.

 _"We will strike down whoever opposes us,"_ it coaxed.

"Strike…"

That smile invited him, tempted him, incited him to do as it says.

 _"Come,"_ it says, its red eyes glowing ever sharper.

He reached out for it.

* * *

A knocking sound startled him.

Light found himself staring at the mirror, clear water still dripping from his face. He pulled his hand back, where it had hovered near the cold, reflective surface.

"Light," a muffled voice called from the other side of the door, "What are you doing?"

Light blinked at the image of himself, confusion etched on his face as he wonders what the hell happened before his mother had knocked the door. He stared, his mind faintly picking up that something must've been there.

A fly maybe?

He stared at his reflection, diligently searching for signs on his face on what it might be.

Nothing.

Whatever that was, it's gone now.

"Light?"

"I'm fine," he said, loud enough for Sachiko to hear, "I'll be down soon."

"Hurry up for breakfast before you're late!"

"Yes, mother," he said, patting his face dry and smoothening his hair. He wouldn't have it if a strand was to go out of place. Light hung the towel and took a last, puzzled glance at the mirror, before walking out of the bathroom.

As the door slowly creaks close, a distant laugh started up. A black and red cloud swirled in the mirror as the cackles grew even louder, echoing in the confines of the bathroom. The door clicks shut and the voice disappears.


	2. Introduction

The day that he met L, he remembered that it looked brighter than usual. It was spring, the sky was clear and the air was choked with pollen, carrying with it the scent of flowers and the coolness of winter that had been reluctant to part from the city. It was still cold enough that Light left the house with his thick woolen sweater, worn over one of his white shirts with its collar showing over the top. It was his usual style and he'd happily went with it for his first lecture in To-oh. He'd worn a pair of brown trousers, one of a few similar pairs he had in his closet. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he had more than one pair of the same clothing.

What if one of them were dirtied or damaged in an unfortunate incident? And if he had to wear a particular shirt that day that matches with his trousers, what were he to do if he didn't have a pair ready? That would be disastrous!

A gust of wind blew, shaking the trees that lined the school fence and dislodging a fresh flurry of pink petals that circled about the air. It whipped at his hair, sending the brown locks flying about in a disarray as petals scattered around him, eventually settling on the ground as the wind died down. Light made a sound of annoyance as he stopped with fix his hair with one hand, running through the locks and patting it into place. A student his age sneezed as he walked by, muttering a quick apology as he hurried away.

Light glared as he thought about how unhygienic that was. _He didn't even cover his nose!_

When he thought his hair should be neat enough, Light continued on his way through the school gate, where incomprehensible murmurs surrounded him and grew in volume as he strode further into the campus. A great number of students were either rushing to class or huddled in groups, chatting as they stood or slowly walked to their next lecture. A couple guys let out shouts as they ran by, attracting the annoyed glances of other students.

Light recognized them as his schoolmates back in Daikoku, shaking his head at their immaturity. God wonders how they even made it here, they must've been the bottom few at the entrance exams, how lucky.

Other students he recognized were from the same prep school that he went to. They spotted him as well and waved. Light smiled back politely, while his brown eyes stayed vacant.

They were mere acquaintances, Light felt nothing upon seeing them again. He remembered that these are people that belonged to a mindless flock, had no actual individuality to speak of and were utterly boring, each and every one of them. Quite like everyone else that were in his high school.

Well, no matter. Light didn't think it would ever benefit him other than his image by associating with them, when there are things that he is currently up against are far, far greater, making them look like ants that he could easily crush underfoot.

And he don't even need the Death Note to do that.

A prickling sensation began at the base of his brain, feeling somewhat like a voice nagging at the back of his head. It caused Light to stop in his tracks, puzzled as he tried to listen to it.

Then it was gone, as if it was never there.

Light shook his head, dismissing it as he continued to walk towards his class.

Now where was he? Oh, right, greater things.

L.

Ever since L had appeared, things have gotten much more interesting around here. He was confident that he could easily dupe the NPA even if they somehow figured out that Kira was no natural phenomenon. There was only so much that the police could do. But the greatest detective in the world on the other hand, would be a definite challenge, one that Light would gladly accept and relish his victory over him (or her?) much later.

What had struck Light had been L's first appearance on television, sort of, where he was baited to kill Lind L. Tailor that time. He had boldly challenged Kira after that, daringly using his scarce knowledge of Kira's ability to kill and gambled with that. It maddened him and thrilled him at the same time. They said that L had never failed to solve a single case in his career, and they were all difficult and bizarre ones as well, such as this one. L said that he would solve the Kira Case and bring the mass murderer to justice.

Light smirked.

 _I would like to see you try, L._

Because so far, Light was aware that he had managed to thwart most of the detective's attempts to identify and corner him.

L's first major move was to send the FBI agents to tail his suspects, which he wisely deduced were related to the police force. With some careful and outlandish planning on his part, Light was able to trick the name out of the FBI agent, Raye Penber, where he later manipulated him to kill the other agents on this case. With all his tails dead at the same time, L would be at a loss about who killed them and likely get into trouble about it, as Light had seen from the hacking the NPA and saw that they had no idea about this.

Light had thought himself safe until Penber's fiancée showed up. It was an oversight on his part and he was lucky enough to have run into her before she found L and provided him with vital information about Kira. It would have landed him in a rather unfavorable position. Light manipulated and successfully tricked her name out of her before she could provide L with that advantage and sent her to her death where no one would ever be able to recover her remains.

Although, what she had mentioned while Light was focusing on lying and skirting around her are without a doubt, the truth. Misora had clearly loved her fiancé and was determined to exact revenge on Kira at the cost of her life. Light felt he had to admire that of her.

Such a pity that a strong and respectable woman like that had to die.

He strolled down the walkway, hands in his coat as he thought about the fact that he was against killing the innocent. The agents and Misora are a necessary sacrifice in his mission to rid the world of evil-doers, where all he wanted was to create a safer place for the good and innocent people.

It was necessary, he told himself again.

L had tried camera surveillance next on the families that he suspected most. By then, Light was sure that L had him as a prime suspect. He didn't think that his father or the other officers would approve of that, so he went with the guise of having a few suspects which L probably didn't bother to hide that well. The sixty-four hidden cameras in his room are a telling sign when there's only one camera in every other part of his house, including the bathroom.

Pretending to not know that people are watching him bathing was an especially infuriating thing. He hoped that L had the decency to leave his sister alone, or his mother, ugh.

It wasn't that hard to ruin L's plan. Light admitted that his idea was ingenious, if using the Death Note right under L's watchful eye was anything to go by. There was no evidence left for him either, it had been crushed in the back of the garbage truck right inside the bag of potato chips. Light wanted to turn to one of the cameras and laugh in his face right then. But no, that would make everything that he's working for fall apart, so he quelled the urge, he could do that for real when L had lost.

L's activities had gone quiet since then and Light reckoned it won't be long before he makes his next move.

And he would be ready for it.

A deafening flap jolted Light out of his thoughts, the noise coming from right behind him, followed by an ear-shattering **"BOO!".**

 _Not this again._

Light turned to give the hovering Death God a quick sidelong glance, finding a menacing grin directed at him, though he could kind of tell that it is in fact a disappointed pout from spending time with Ryuk all day. It was a particular ability that he wasn't thrilled to have picked up.

 **"Eh? I didn't manage to scare ya this time?"**

The brunette ignored it as he continued on his way, pretending to brush an imaginary something out of his hair, maybe the onlookers will think that he was bothered by a flower petal that fell onto his head and go on with their day.

 **"How boring!"** Ryuk whined, as he jumped up onto a non-existent surface and laid there while he continued to drift with Light. **"Ya think something would have happened by now, it's freaking quiet around here."**

Light made his way into the school building, while the Death God's gravelly voice grated on his nerves, **"Boring, boring! I want entertainment! Or give me an apple at least, Light-o!"**

A certain skill that Light had been grateful for having developed from being around Ryuk is now being put to use, as the teen purposefully strode through the halls as if he had heard nothing.

 **"Don't ignore me!"**

Light suppressed a sigh, figuring that Ryuk might actually be about to lose his mind with boredom as the Death God started laughing, apparently amused by the hurrying students who passed through his body like busy specters. He twisted his body about in the air in strange and disturbing shapes and Light had a feeling he might be considering touching someone with the Death Note just to get a good scare out of them.

Light rounded the corner, face morphing into a smile as he caught sight of two girls that he knew back in high school. They crowded about him, chattering excitedly when they realized Light was registered in the same course as them. He exchanged a few polite words while Ryuk's eyes were directed at one of the girl's cleavage, seeming to bulge out more than usual as he shamelessly leered.

The brunette kept it short, saying that he had a class to go to, prompting the girls to continue on their way as well. When they were out of sight, the smile immediately melted and Light went back to wearing an impassive mask, even the gleam seem to dissipate from his dark eyes as they turned dull.

'What a waste of time,' he thought, as he ran a hand through his hair in annoyance.

The teen finally reached his destination, turning into the lecture room and making his way up the stairs towards the back, where he'd most preferred to sit.

That was when his eyes were attracted to something that stood out like a sore thumb.

He turned, his eyes involuntarily latching on a black and white living creature. That particular creature was perched in the middle of the wooden bench, his way of sitting obviously didn't belong among humans. Light had almost thought he was a marble statue, from how pale and bizarre he looked, almost like an unusual piece of art created by an equally if not more eccentric artist. On the top of his head is a haphazard mess of hair that reminded Light of a certain cartoon hedgehog, the tresses sticking up in spikes that looked like he could cut his finger on it if he were to touch them. He had black, round eyes that seemed too large for his face, like the artist had mistakenly carved them too big and it was too late to fix it. Under those eyes are dark shadows that looked like that artist had smudged black paint on it and it remained there, permanently, unable to be wiped off.

The guy was wearing an oversized white T-shirt that hung sloppily over his frame, same with the baggy jeans on his legs. The crouch that he sat in made Light think of thin, emaciated demonic creatures from old folktales. It gave the impression that he is just as thin and emaciated, not to mention sloppy. He had his bare feet on the edge of bench, his filthy and yellowed sneakers discarded under the seats.

The lecture room had been filling in with students for a while now, yet the area around this particular male is deserted. Light didn't question the mentality of the masses, he wouldn't choose to sit next to this guy either unless he was paid at least ten bucks to do it.

As if he had been listening to his thoughts, the strange male's eyes snapped over to him, somehow startling him a bit more than Ryuk's loud scare had been. Unwittingly, Light couldn't help but think how strange his eyes were, looking more like two pools of infinite darkness than sight organs. They were blank, but Light suspected that he was able to hide his thoughts skillfully when he sensed that this guy is anything but an airhead.

Whether he was a buffoon or not didn't quell his freakishness in the slightest, so Light tore his eyes away from him immediately and made his way down the row towards the window seats, as far away from him as possible.

He felt those eyes boring into his back, which was something he'd expected.

What he didn't expect was when he settled down on the corner seat and pulled out his materials, the strange guy had soundlessly slinked across their distance, crawling right across the bench, over the gap and perched right beside Light in the same crouch, this time facing him bodily. The brunette turned and started, seeing the dude blatantly staring at him, his thumb on his lower lip.

A low chuckle behind him made Light feel like hitting the shinigami in the face to shut him up.

Instead, Light forged a friendly smile on his face as he asked, "Can I help you?"

The stranger tilted his head comically, the movement resembling that of a bird's or more accurately, an owl, because of his huge pitch-like eyes.

"Yagami Light?"

The brunette really shouldn't find himself surprised that the stranger knew his name, he had been pretty famous after all with all his records and achievements, people should know him especially as the one who scored a full-mark on To-oh's entrance exams that were renowned to be extremely difficult. However, when his full name was spoken, he was utterly baffled and wondered how the hell did he know that when he had never seen him before, indicating that Light should stay away from him if he wanted to retain his usual, flawless mental capacity.

"Yes?" He blurted, feeling slightly intimidated.

The stranger stared at him blankly for the longest moment, then, as if tugged by invisible strings, a small smile quirked at his lips as he impishly stated, "Nice to meet you."

He proceeded to turn away and faced the front as if nothing had happened, leaving the brunette thoroughly flummoxed in every way.

His eye twitched.

Light's ears rang slightly as laughter erupted behind him. He knew without needing to turn that Ryuk had doubled over and is guffawing his heart out at the ridiculous scene in front of him, probably at Light's expression too. The Death God fell through the table behind as he rolled away and roared in laughter.

He was about to open his mouth and snap at the guy when the chattering crowd in front scattered in a flurry, returning to their seats as the professor entered the room.

Light silently grumbled to himself and reluctantly left him be, scowling as he turned to face the stage.

It was nice and quiet for a while, that was until Light had the distinct feeling that he was being watched. He glanced to his left and indeed, the dark-haired male was staring at him, looking as if he might suck on his thumb at any moment.

The professor droned away in the background and Light heard only bits and pieces of it as the weird guy is really distracting, the prickling sensation eating through his skull as he continued to stare.

"… and such is the constitution of the Criminal Justice System. Uh… you over there at the back, yes, you in the white sweater. Can you tell us more about the Constitution Code?"

Light hid his smirk behind his hand, rejoicing at the fact that the weirdo was called out for obviously not paying attention. Now it's time to watch him fumble to answer the question to his satisfaction.

The raven stood and answered in an equally bored tone, "The Constitution Code provides for the highest legislative system of the government, consisting of eleven sections and 103 articles in total." He did not blink even once as he spoke, staring at the professor blandly, "Under the first section, the Emperor is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people", the Emperor's role and the roles and limitations of the Imperial Throne is covered under Articles 1 through 8. In Article 9 is the Renunciation of War where the war potentials of Japan were relinquished, a means of settling international disputes, making up the second section. The third is regarding the individual rights of the people with Articles 10 to 40, where Article 13 is the core of the section, asserting the right of the people "to be respected as individuals" and, subject to "the public welfare", to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Section four-"

"Alright, that was quite sufficient," the professor stated, his expression was of mild annoyance, "You may sit."

Light didn't manage to hide his astonishment either at the level of detail that the male gave and that he was actually prepared to recite the whole make up of the Constitution. So far, it had been frighteningly accurate and his quotes had been exactly as they were written in the text, he knew this because he did have it memorized by heart, quite effortlessly. Some students were flipping through their six codes for that confirmation and were stealing glances at the strange guy with an apprehensive light in their eyes.

Light stole a glance at him as he impassively sat back down, still torn between deciding whether he was truly smart or that he had nothing in his head, and that the information he had given was memorized many times over.

Apparently not, as the stranger caught him staring and turned, flashing him a quick smirk that irked him rightly so.

 _Just who the hell is this guy?_

The lecture went on uninterrupted and Light returned his attention to the board, questions still plaguing his mind about the mysterious character beside him.

At some point, he'd scooted closer to him, such that Light could feel the warmth from one of his leg radiating onto his side. He shifted slightly more towards the window but it seemed that the male was annoying persistent, as he kept shifting closer and almost forced him right up against the window.

Ryuk's chuckling in the background was not _helping_ one bit.

Light glanced at him in annoyance, his expression is clearly telling him to back the fuck off.

He didn't seem to care as he leaned closer and Light had nowhere to run to as he muttered, "Well, Light-kun."

Light's eye twitched at the familiarity that the honorific held, the audacity of the guy attaching it to his first name when he had no idea who the hell he was. Who was he to call him 'Light-kun?'

Again, the male didn't care or notice at the surge of fury Light seemed to display as he continued, "Just to let you know this."

Light's mind was screaming at him to go away when he grew even closer and whispered in his ear.

"I am L."

Then his vision went red.

* * *

 **Edited: 21/09/2017**

 **A/N: Finally, I have finished rewriting this chapter. I actually had most of it done a few days ago, the only part that was missing was the professor's question and L's answer. Like holy shit I was wondering for days what the heck I should use for that, I knew nothing about law, much less Japan's law. In the end I used that and to be honest, I think that it wasn't that hard, like most of students looking to study law would probably have memorized the content by heart but since I am pretty much at a loss, let's just pretend they didn't. XD**

 **Wondering if I should edit the prologue too, I feel like leaving it alone but also changing it at the same time. What do you guys think?**


	3. Prisoner

The Taskforce building.

Light stared up at it from the sidewalk, his eyes dark with grievance, provoked by none other than the arrogant, idiotic, sadistic pest known as L.

It wasn't the first time he was here, so he wasn't terribly surprised that the building that L had decided to use as his base seemed to be lacking of the reprehensible grandiose that the reclusive and creature-like detective apparently possessed.

The structure itself looked to be ten stories tall, much like the others around it, made of concrete and glass, looking nothing but ordinary just like everything else. It was to blend in, he presumed, in the quiet area of business that deals mainly with storage and miscellaneous tasks that the main figures and their employees do not bother with. Only the occasional car or truck drove by the roads here, contrasting with the busy streets of Tokyo that remained just a couple blocks away. The faint noise of construction barely disturbed the silence, like a breath upon the unyielding stone.

Even with all its purpose to look inconspicuous, something about the building seemed out of place even in this rural, silent area. The first thing that gave away was the fact that the establishment is featureless and nameless, when everything else around it by convention held a brand or a name. The second is the dark entrance, the tinted glass doors that obscured the happenings on the inside, making it look foreboding.

Light wasn't really bothered by that fact even if it looked more like the case by the minute. Truthfully, he hadn't really wanted to be here in the first place, he had no desire to see the location or L again if there is nothing important for him to attend to.

He was called.

Demanded for, summoned, ordered, take your pick, we all know cordiality is a thing obviously absent within the detective.

The reason he was here was even less appealing, for the last time he had seen L, he was in the campus. He could still recall with clarity the smirk that ran across L's face as he held Misa's phone and told him that she had been captured on the suspicion of being the Second Kira, which means that L is targeting him next with evidence from her.

It was not something that he would worry about, as he'll find his way around it eventually. However, with the addition of a third party such as Misa, his plan was bound to lose some of their certainty, especially when he ran a higher risk of being caught because of her and her ridiculous blunder. He had _specifically_ told her not to come see him during this time. Still, she insisted all because she was _that_ obsessed with him. He didn't think responding just that slightly would have caused such a fervent reaction in her, or that he would forced into it because of that blasted white shinigami that follows her around.

Now he's in this mess all because of those two.

Light made his way towards the building, his face grim. Watari must have seen his arrival, as the door was opened to let him in, revealing the man who nodded at him in greeting. He kept his face devoid of expression as he gave a small bow back, while his thoughts were rampaging, rushing about in a mess of frustration at Misa, anger at L and resentment at Rem.

He was led through the lobby like before, his footsteps echoing off the tiled floor in the deserted room, unlike Watari whose footfalls were silent even with his sleek loafers.

Light followed him into the elevator, walking down the empty hallways and into a room that he hadn't been in before. They were in the basement of the building, where most of the Taskforce had relocated from the sixth floor that held the workroom. The room had dark gray walls and was almost bare except for a few desks, a wall full of monitors and the offending entity that is L who is perched upon a chair and had turned to stare at him like a creature who regards all with condescension. On the largest screen in the center showed footage from a white room that is as bare as the one that everyone else are in, the bright lights in it made the image almost painful to look at. In the middle is a metal board where Misa was strapped against, her movements restrained by black harnesses that ran about her wrists, neck and stomach, that much he could see. Her eyes are covered with a thick blindfold, her pale form shivering in the thin dress that she was put in, the material as colorless as the rest of the room. She was clearly afraid as he could clearly see that her lips were trembling.

"Please, Misa doesn't know anything about this," she cried, her usually perky voice reduced to weak quavering sobs, "Please let Misa go!"

"Ryuuzaki," Light uttered, his voice soft with apprehension, "What is the meaning of this?"

He could see that the others were just as uncomfortable about the sight as he is supposed to be, the most sensitive them all, Matsuda looked down steadfastly at the documents, sieving through them quickly while Aizawa stared grimly at the sight. His father was doing just about the same thing as Matsuda, occasionally glancing at the detective in disapproval.

L stared at him while nibbling on his right thumb. He plucked it away from his mouth and settled his hand on his knee, wiping on it slightly. Light cast a look on it like it might contain all the mysterious illnesses in the world and thought how utterly unhygienic that was.

"We have found several pieces of evidence in her apartment that points her to being the Second Kira," L muttered, "Those are in the tapes that she mailed to Sakura Television, the stamps, paper from the notebook, the ink from the pen that she used, they all matched." He reached over to the bowl beside him and grabbed a red jellybean out of the rainbow colored mess. L tossed it into his mouth and stated with a crunch, "We also found Amane's hair, fingerprints and other things on the second tape, which leads me to believe that she is the Second Kira."

Light watched as she tugged at her restrains with a terrified desperation.

"But is this really necessary?" He stated, as if truly concerned about her (not really, she's just a pawn for him to use).

L studied a lime green jellybean, making a face at it before flinging it into the trash next to him. He grabbed the blue one and bit into it with a crunch, "The Second Kira is able to kill with just a face, I'm just making the necessary precautions."

Light made an effort not to roll his eyes as L stared back at him, the other half of the jellybean peeking out at him as his hand held on to the candy in his mouth.

"Sure," the teen uttered.

A soft whimper was emitted from the monitor as Misa continued to struggle, Light would have ignored it but he had to play the part of a caring boyfriend, so he cast a worried glance at her. Besides, Rem was in the cell right next to the captured model, glaring at him menacingly.

Damn the shinigami, it wasn't like he wanted her to be caught so quickly because of her stupidity, it was a good thing that he took her Death Note before this had happened. The next thing he have to worry about now is that her stupidity might cause her to start talking. And that is when everything about would begin to fall apart.

"Light-kun," L said, his voice slightly muffled as he chewed on the remainder of the blueberry-flavored jellybean. "You are now the prime suspect of the Kira Case."

A loud bang startled the quiet within the room and all turned to the source of it, seeing sheets of paper fluttering about the former Chief's feet.

Soichiro ignored the fallen stack of papers, gaping at L, his face slowly turning red as he burst out, "What? What do you have to accuse my son of being Kira?!"

"Yagami-san," L grumbled around a handful of jellybeans he had stuck into his mouth, "Do you not know that Amane Misa has been coming into contact with your son lately?"

That stumped the older man as he continued to stare, his face slowly paling.

"Since the evidence strongly points to Amane being the Second Kira, her association with him coupled with the timing of the second tape adds on to his suspicion," L swallowed with an audible gulp and took a sip of his sugary tea. "Moreover, your son's profile fitted Kira's the most, it would be natural to think as such."

Soichiro slumped in his chair and ran a hand over his tired face, "I suppose."

"Great, we shall interrogate him soon," L said cheerfully, as he grabbed another handful of candy from the bowl, meticulously picking out the lime ones and tossing them into the trash as he continued, "Is that alright, Light-kun?"

Light tried not to grimace in disgust as the detective cramped the mass of jellybeans into his mouth, turning his face into an unassuming mask as he said, "Of course, Ryuuzaki, I have nothing to hide."

He glanced at the screen, where Rem ran a clawed hand through Misa's hair as she whispered gently, yellow eyes watching him through the camera somehow.

It would be better for him if both of them were gone.

Light wished that he knew how to get rid of a shinigami without repercussion, preferably destroying them completely. His dark eyes shifted onto the girl and he wished that he could kill her as well and make all his problems go away.

Maybe he could use this situation to his advantage.

His gaze turned to L, who stared at him with his all-seeing eyes as he chewed, those coal-black irises always seemed to follow him, and they always seemed to know what he's thinking.

Oh, how he hated that.

' _Kill him_ ,' his mind whispered for him.

'Gladly,' he thought.

He felt the darkness within his mind twist into an invisible smile.

Then, it vanished.

* * *

It wasn't long that Light found himself back in the same room, eyes downcast and fists clenched tightly by his side, giving off the image of uncertainty and barely restrained desperation.

He sensed confusion in the air, set off by the other occupants in the room who are currently staring at him. The atmosphere seemed interrupted, like they were in the middle of uncovering something strange before he himself had popped up and added more strangeness into the mix.

The screen that had been showing the image from Misa's room constantly had been switched to show the list of criminals that had died recently, all his handiwork.

Light knew the reason, it was because Misa had given up her ownership of the Death Note and now have lost her memories of everything about it.

And soon, he would follow.

That was all according to his plans, his 'girlfriend's' behavior with her missing memories must have thrown them off. By ridding himself of his own memories, he would genuinely believe that he is not Kira and that would put L off his trail, since he is stupidly all-knowing and all. Then he would direct L's attention onto a new target that he had Rem find. L might not believe that he was not Kira but there would be nothing attaching him to that fact and L would eventually have no choice but to let that go.

 _This could work._

Light smirked, no one was able to see it because it was directed at the floor, hidden behind a curtain of his fringe.

The smile melted off his face and he raised his head, catching the sight of L perched on the chair, fiddling with his lower lip. He went through the motion of taking a breath, "Ryuuzaki…"

"Yes, Light?"

For once, he wasn't seeing L stuffing his face with candy or dessert of any sort, the immediate vicinity seemed to be absent of any form of sugar whatsoever and that included tea or coffee that usually accompanied the members of the Taskforce.

If he were to admit it, the way that L pressed and pulled at his lip with his thumb was really distracting.

It was… unsightly.

Yes.

That's exactly (definitely) the word he's looking for.

Light told himself to stay focused and muttered hesitantly, "I think…"

He faltered, ran a troubled hand through his hair just to show how extremely troubled he is and continued in a voice that gradually fades off towards the end, with a well-placed tone of pained finality, "I think I might be Kira."

Another bang, Soichiro seemed extremely prone to dropping stacks of papers when he's badly startled.

He turned as his father shot up from his seat, face pale as he spluttered, "Light! What are you _saying_?!"

"Dad," the teen gazed at him as if distressed, "I think I might be going mad. I can't explain it but… I feel like I have been Kira without knowing it. The thing that happened with the FBI agent, Penber… I met him before he died. And about Misa, I got into a relationship with her right around the tape broadcast."

Soichiro spluttered again, although Light wasn't sure whether it was because of his confession or the fact that he got into a relationship with the model – could be both.

L began chewing his thumb, eyes narrowing as he studied his suspect in this new development, wondering what he might be up to.

"If she's the Second Kira," Light muttered, his voice fearful, "It's very likely that I'm the First. But I just…"

He appeared to struggle with his words, his face conflicted as he uttered, "I don't know anything about it. I can't remember anything."

Light's chocolate hued eyes flickered over to L's and watched as he drew a connection between Misa's memory loss and what he is talking about. He resisted the urge to sneer at him and adopted all the innocence that he could muster, all the confusion and pain he could bring onto the image to himself as if he had been considering this line of thought and had been thinking about it for a while.

It had this exact effect on Soichiro, as he fell back onto his chair with a thump, while the others stared at him, speechless.

L tugged his thumb from his lip, wiping it on his jeans as he considered the teen.

"I have observed you, Light," he said slowly, studying his face to see if he could discern anything from it, "That was while you were under surveillance. I have not noticed anything amiss."

Light gasped, willing his face to drain of all color, "You put cameras in my house?"

This incited a wave of discomfort among the others in the room and they didn't dare to look him in the eye, even Soichiro somehow looked guilty about it; Light found that amusing. Only L remained unaffected, he simply eyed him and nibbled on his thumb again, not particularly bothered to clarify or explain himself.

"But Ryuuzaki," Aizawa spoke up, after enduring the awkward silence in the room, "Yagami-kun was not always under surveillance, there were times where he had left the house and were no longer under our observation. He could have easily killed people during those timings."

Light smirked inwardly, looks like the detective's genius was not able to cover the entirety of the issue here.

"That's…" Light tugged on the sleeve of his jacket distractedly, "I think Aizawa-san is right, no one would be watching me during that time, I could've unknowing snuck off and done _god-knows-what_. "

That shudder at the end was entirely for effect and it worked well on everyone that is not L, he resisted another urge to smirk at him.

Instead, he contemplated L earnestly, with all the honesty that he could muster into his expression, "I might have to be kept under constant observation, so you would know if something is wrong, when I'm not myself. For all I know, I could be killing in my sleep or something and have no memory of it. Just- I can't stand…"

Light broke off in a weak, fumbling voice, he had captured anxiety on his face so well that it should be used as the ideal demonstration for all in the art of deception (he generously called it acting). It wasn't hard to try to guess what he was getting at, as he was the son of Soichiro Yagami, the walking example of purity and true virtue who stood on the side of righteousness and justice.

The entire Taskforce is putty in his hands.

All except L, that is.

The detective scrutinized him disbelievingly, his wide eyes narrowed in the slightest degree as his thumb rested on his lip, one of his front teeth peeking out from under his pale lip and pinching on the pad of the digit. Light found himself wondering had he kept his teeth so white when he cramped himself of sugary sweets all the time, they should be yellowed or rotted even with the knowledge of proper dental care that L shouldn't possess. It probably doesn't smell as good as it looked, he told himself and settled with that.

Light stared back at him, his eyes wide and honest, willing the detective to take up his suggestion.

L pulled his thumb away from his mouth and sighed softly, "Very well, I shall have Light-kun imprisoned along with Amane."

"Ryuuzaki!"

As expected, papers tumbled out of Soichiro's lap yet again as he stood and gaped at the detective, like a startled lion whose slumber had been disturbed by a lowly predator, "You can't just agree to put my son under confinement!"

"I find it completely reasonable."

"But-!"

"He asked for it."

" _L_!"

"Dad," Light called, catching the attention of the flustered man, "Please, I can't live with the fear that I might be Kira without me knowing, I have to do this."

"But Light…" Soichiro looked dismayed, almost shattered, the worst that Light had ever seen him.

"Weren't you the one who taught me that justice is above everything?" Light pressed as much as he dared, gently, without ruining the image of the good and just and undisputedly perfect son, "Everyone of us serves the system and we can't be selfish, we have to give away parts of ourselves for the sake of the others and fulfill our designated duties. I am your son, Dad, and my purpose is to stand with justice and carry it out to protect the innocent. I can't be protecting the innocent if I myself have doubts about my own behavior."

Light stared at his father intently, and stated softly his line that is the clincher, "So Dad, please, let me."

His father looked torn with despair, his tired eyes gazing at his beloved son's face. He collapsed blankly into his chair with a loud creak, looking akin to a limp sack of flour to Light.

L watched this interaction with mild interest, while Matsuda stood awkwardly to the side, having gotten up when Soichiro looked as if he would pass out. He then proceeded to flit about between them to gather up the fallen papers while muttering quick apologies to the older man and his son.

The detective swiveled around in the chair and pressed a button on the microphone on his desk, "Watari, please make the arrangements, thank you."

He played with his lower lip for a few seconds, almost distractedly, before turning to face the crestfallen man, "Yagami-san?"

Soichiro tilted his head to peer at him with weary eyes, "What?"

"You are required to provide a cover story for Light-kun's absence," L said, "I find that the one with you finding Light-kun in a relationship with Amane and disowning him out of disapproval is the best choice."

Soichiro began to glare at him wordlessly.

"That's just a suggestion," L muttered, turning to face the monitors, "Watari will bring Light-kun to the cell in about fifteen minutes, so please get ready."

Light let a weak smile grace his face, appearing apprehensive and relieved at the same time, "Thanks, Ryuuzaki."

There goes the second phase of his plan. _Perfect_ , he thought to himself darkly, his almost-black eyes glinting as it reflected the light of the screens and L's silhouette as he stared at the back of the detective's head, finding himself imaging what it would look like, bloodied and battered, lolling back on his neck before his entire body falls out of the chair.

L seemed to have sensed his thoughts, turning around to peer at him with such an intensity that he thought the coal black eyes were going to burst into flames at any moment. Light looked startled, before returning the stare with a weak smile. The raven-haired man narrowed his eyes clearly for the first time and returned to what he was doing.

The smile slowly curved into a smirk at how the detective knew and didn't know so many things at the same time, all because he wasn't able to catch him.

That satisfied him, as well as the fact that he is one more step closer to L's _death_.

* * *

Seventy-two hours later, Light found himself seated against the cot in his cell, wrists bound together behind him by steel handcuffs. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants, looking quite the part of a captured convict.

Only three days have passed since he came under confinement and already, he's getting tired of this.

How far he had fallen, from the judge that dishes out the punishment of death onto hardened criminals became the very image of a convict himself, trapped in captivity at the mercy of the authorities, even if it's just L. Actually, the detective is above every form of authority ever known to the world justice system, so that counts.

Light grumbled at the senseless thoughts and sighed.

He was uncomfortable, his arms ached, his back ached, he's tired and he sort of needed to go. His ass is sore from sitting on the hard ground all day and sitting on the cot makes no difference as they were both rock solid. Light didn't think he would resort to lying on the ground or the bed anytime soon, he still have his dignity to keep, at least until his body couldn't stand it anymore.

His knees had been drawn up to his chest for at least an hour now so his heels are beginning to become sore as well. He shifted into a different position and instantly felt better, even if it was just slightly. Light can't imagine having to stay in this godforsaken room until his stand-in appears or until L thinks that he can't uncover any more information from confining him within this room.

All that depends on the speed where Rem finds this new 'Kira' for him to even have a shot at getting out of here. He knew, well, expected L to be stubborn and cage him for longer than was effective so it might take much longer.

The other shinigami whining in the corner of the room is _not_ helping.

L must've seen the annoyed frown on his face as a click echoed from the speaker and the deadpan tone filled the room, "May I know what you are thinking, Light-kun?"

 _No, you may not_ , Light thought indignantly, slowly easing his expression as Ryuk lamented loudly about apples and pretzels.

He ignored the question and raised his head, put on his innocent face and asked, "What's happening out there, Ryuuzaki?"

"The criminals have stopped dying."

L's answer was immediate, as if the detective was challenging him about the undeniable fact and that he should just confess now.

 _No way in hell, idiot._

"I see…" Light muttered, his voice weak as he caught a breath, "That just means…"

"Are you confessing?" L's voice bordered on demanding and Light stifled a chuckle.

"No… I can't," Light stated meekly, his gaze lowered to the floor, staring at his pale toes. "How can I possibly confess when I don't remember doing anything wrong, or even being Kira? The fact that they have stopped dying is not going to be a strong enough prove, it would be much better to catch me in the act than to rely on that."

There was a long pause, before another click sounded.

"As expected, Light-kun is extremely stubborn."

Light's head snapped up, his eyes wide as he gawked at the camera, as if appalled, "I'm not Kira!"

Another pause, before L blandly stated, "We'll see about that," and left him in silence.

 _Asshole_ , Light shot back in his mind, knees curling into himself in a display of torment.

He gave up the act after a while, it's rather pointless and taxing on his muscles as he leaned his head against the cot, staring at the ceiling lamp.

 _Any day now, Rem._

* * *

Three days became five, and five became ten and L found himself feeling almost as tired as the figures on the screen.

L had been seated in front of the wall of monitors for the most part, leaving only to use the bathroom and squeezed in about two showers, that was all. He ate and drank on the same chair and as for sleeping, about three hours of napping were done at a time in the same exact position, he probably moved even less than Light did in the cell, taking his eyes off the screen for barely a second once in a while.

Currently, the detective had seated in the same crouch for more than three hours, deftly licking the last few drops of ice-cream off his spoon while his large eyes stayed glued to the screens.

The first largest screen showed Amane from the front, her head drooping to the side as she tried to sleep. Spending all day in the cell fastened to the board blindfolded and ignorant of the time have evidently messed up her body clock, especially when the blonde had been barely able to sleep in her first few days of confinement. To the left of that are four smaller monitors, showing different angles from the cell that switches every ten seconds.

The screen in the middle showed Soichiro, who had requested to be confined along with his son. L had found the idea absurd that one would willingly allow themselves to suffer when someone they love is suffering. But he supposed if Soichiro said that he was also doing it to avoid interfering with the investigation because of his feelings, he would allow it.

That monitor was the only one showing the former police chief, there wasn't actually a need to keep an eye on him as much as Light and Amane.

The remaining screens to the far right showed Light, sitting in the same position against the cot at the same timings for ten days in a row. Compared to the model, Light's internal clock was extremely precise, even if he didn't actually know what time it is. Sure, Watari's visits to deliver meals might have helped but Light's timing is just inhumanly accurate. L had quite obviously taken note of Light's everyday routine over the last ten days.

First, he would wake up in the morning at six-thirty exactly and take care of his bathroom needs, aided by the elderly gentlemen since his hands are bound (he was quite reluctant in the first two days). He would return to sit on the cot until Watari came back with his breakfast at seven which was finished and cleared around seven-thirty. From then until ten, he would be sitting against the bed in this exact position, shifting every once in a while when his limbs began to fall asleep. At 10:00 exactly, he gets up and paces around the cell. At noon, he would eat lunch that Watari brings in. He also takes the opportunity to use the toilet and return to sit on the bed until four in the afternoon. At four, he begins to glare at the front camera pointedly, which was occasionally done during the other times but they were not as obvious as in that instant. At six, Watari brings in his dinner and Light ate, went to the bathroom before returning to this one position. He gets up at eight to lie on the thin mattress. L could tell that he wasn't asleep because his eyes were open. When they weren't, L relies on listening to his breathing pattern. At about ten, he falls asleep.

It certainly sounds boring, having to watch someone in similar positions over a long stretch of time but L was trained to do this sort of things and pick up slight changes around a person where others could not tell. Whenever Light sits down in his spot, his eyes would go blank, as if dazed but L could practically see the gears turning in his head. Well, what else is one supposed to do with nothing in a cell such as this, other than thinking. L knew that Light is up to something, if he is Kira, he would have already planned something in advance.

If not, why would he willingly let himself be watched around the clock like this?

The detective felt it had something to do with Amane's apparent memory loss, perhaps one of Kira's ability was to transfer their consciousness onto another like some sort of otherworldly entity? He had heard of strange things like this happening and the human world is still fumbling to explain this. Perhaps Light is one of Kira's host which he consciously had control over and is moving it onto another person to try and skirt around him.

However, he might have to consider the possibility that Light is actually innocent.

What if it was just like he had said, that something strange is happening to him that he was not aware of and was seeking help? If Kira is an entity that can be moved onto different people, then maybe it could also have a mind of its own and control their hosts instead. If so, would Kira actually be possible to capture and destroy?

L had been watching, he had seen the instances where in the long stretch of doing nothing but thinking, Light's expressions switches quickly between dazed and annoyance, as if something in the room was disturbing him. There was conscious effort where Light's expression turns blank and L deduces that whatever that he appears to be aware of is entirely invisible, no one else had seen anything amiss within that room. Unless the changes were due to his thoughts, it could hint to the presence of an unseen creature, maybe even Kira itself.

L would have to expect the scenario in which Light would lose his memories like Misa in the near future.

He chewed on the spoon in frustration until the metal felt unpleasant on his teeth. He left the spoon in the sundae glass and stared hard at the three figures on the screen, where exhaustion had caught onto Light and made his head droop.

There was no way to know which of these possibilities are true without further observation so L kept watching. He watched until the teen eventually dozed off, a first in ten days. Still, he watched, waiting for a sign to appear.

In another three days, Light's memories will disappear, along with the darkness that were in his eyes.

* * *

 **Edited: 13/10/17**

 **A/N: ... Gosh I hate school. Anyway, yeah the chapter is longer now, I upgraded L from eating one jelly bean at a time into eating a handful at a time, character elaboration and other things... My favorite part in here is actually L just deadpanning "He asked for it." XD Well, he literally asked for it.**

 **Thank god for the approaching weekend, I need it. (SOB)**


	4. Nightmares

That time Light first saw Kira, he'd almost lost it.

It was night, or rather, three in the morning. L was seated by the head of the bed, nibbling on the edge of his thumb as he stared boredly into the darkness. Light was on the bed beside him. The teen was curled up on his side and faced away from the detective, fast asleep. The only sounds that can be heard from him are a series of low, soft, rhythmic breathing. Admittedly, that was making the insomniac slightly drowsier than usual. The low glow of the moon speared through the windows by the bed, illuminating the metal chain laid upon the covers. One end of it had disappeared beneath the covers on Light's side while the other end is attached to L on a cuff. It was decision made by L when Light came out of his confinement two days ago.

In the end, L wasn't able to connect Kira's killings that had started up again to his number one suspect all because Light had lost his memories thirty-nine days ago. The event occurred in just a few seconds. The transition had been undetectable but the change in Light before and after the loss had been glaringly obvious.

He was watching Light as usual while he enjoyed a piece of chocolate fudge cake. It was clear that the endurance that the teen put on at the start was beginning to crumble away. He was lying sprawled across the concrete floor instead of sitting in his usual spot, his brown hair that became matted from having not washed it properly hid his expression as he lay there quietly. Despite his efforts, L knew that his reactions were harder to control as his stamina wears away. The differing pattern in his breathing were telling, where it speeds up and became more erratic at some point, before he made a conscious effort to calm down.

L played with the spoon, flicking it up and down with his teeth as he stared.

Five minutes later, Light asked about the state of Kira killings outside. He had been asking about it around the same time everyday while he was confined. The killings had stopped, he said. They had stopped for a while and that only increased Light's chance of being Kira. Light made a huffing noise that sounded like a chuckle and went silent.

He recalled that the conversation continued with him commenting on Light's disheveled appearance. He mentioned that he hadn't looked very good. Frankly, he had looked like he was about to pass out, judging from how lethargic he had become. He looked awful, or was supposed to.

What L didn't state was that wonderment that Light had managed to keep his attractiveness about him even in this situation, stuck in an almost featureless cell, wearing ratty clothes and probably harboring the stale smell of not having showered. The thought was unbidden and unwelcome so L left it at that, dropping it in a box in his brain labeled 'things to be discarded later'.

The strangest thing happened in what Light said next, about the awful situation he is afflicted with and comparing it to the importance of his innocence. Light had mentioned that to protect his innocence, he must throw away his pride. L felt that the sentence 'get rid of it' held some sort of significance, as Light had raised his head and stared at the camera with an intensity in his eyes not unlike blazing fire while he stated that.

Before L could even begin to discern what that might be about, Light's body had suddenly went limp and his head hit the floor with a 'thud'. L stared at him, puzzled and slightly stunned. He thought that he might have finally reached his limit and passed out.

The detective was about to ask Watari to go check on him when the teen suddenly shot up like someone rudely woken from a nightmare.

What happened next was something that was unexplainable, even to himself.

Looking upon Light Yagami's face in the next moments is like looking into the face of someone who is not him. There weren't any changes, not physically but at that moment, the teen had looked so different from the Light he knew that for a few seconds, L wasn't sure that he was even looking at the same person. Also, there was a sort of innocence that seemed absent in him before.

Not that he hadn't been, or rather, hadn't pretended to be innocent. L had been able to tell that Light's behavior before had all been an act, a façade that he put up for the sake of others. But this, the teen hadn't even begun to do anything, L was able to tell from looking at him alone.

That was not the only thing that changed. The detective was unsure whether anyone else had noticed that his irises seemed to take on a lighter shade of color, looking more amber and gold than the dark brown that he usually saw.

Even the tone of his voice had changed, when he spoke, his voice sounded gentler, softer and extremely confused.

That was how L had immediately came to the conclusion that Light had lost his memories.

While the others scrambled over the change in development, L had mostly ignored what happened next. What is the point, when Kira had already slipped out of his grasp?

Now he had kept his prime suspect chained to him, to observe him. It was also as a precaution, in case Kira would return. Based on the observable difference between Light and Kira, he would be able to tell immediately when that happens. However, L speculated that the time that Kira returns might be the time that his plan have already taken effect, which meant that his life would be at the mercy of the mass murderer.

This is the only logical action. L will have to keep watching him closely and figure out what plan Light had put in place, before it's too late. Even if he knew the fact that Light is Kira is true, no one else on the Task Force would believe him unless he provides them with solid prove, bewitched as they are.

L felt a sharp pain on his thumb and winced, plucking the abused appendage out of his mouth and inspecting it. The skin wasn't broken, which is good, but he supposed he should stop gnawing on it whenever he gets frustrated or anxious before that actually happens.

He turned to peer at the youth, whose soft breathing barely disturbed the air. L noticed that whenever he exhaled, his breaths escaped his lips in the form of little puffs, an amusing aspect that he had discovered while Light was still in confinement.

As the teen entered the next stage of his sleep, he began to twitch and mumble incoherently, a behavior that L had not seen at all before Light has lost his memories, even before his confinement. After that, it became a regular occurrence, a normal event in Light's sleep cycles.

This observation makes it undeniably unsettling, as if the previous Light had control over his own actions even as he sleeps, when such a thing is not supposed to be possible.

L continued to stare at the youth, wondering what dreams he might be having, for Light's thoughts are unpredictable, according to the detective.

Just like no one else.

* * *

 _Light found himself sitting at the desk in his room, staring at an open notebook._

 _He blinked, confused, for the last thing he'd remembered was… nothing. He knew that his name is Light Yagami, knew that he's seventeen years old, a freshman at To-oh University and is studying Law and Psychology there. He also knew that he met a strange boy in his class called Ryuuzaki and Kira is the most dangerous mass murderer in the history of mankind._

 _What he didn't know was what he had done prior to this very moment or why does it feel like he was not supposed to be here._

 _Light looked around his room, his eyes settling on the familiar gray curtains, the green bookshelves containing all his novels and study materials, the doors leading to his balcony and the ridiculous pink bunny plush that his sister had gotten for his last birthday as a joke._

 _He had put it in the closet where it would never see the light of day but Sayu made it a point to keep pulling it out and placing it right at the head of the bed. It happened too many times that he just didn't bother anymore, leaving it in plain sight for all to see._

 _Speaking of which…_

 _His gaze returned to the notebook on his desk, the open pages blank. It might belong to Sayu, since she occasionally comes to his room to ask for help in her studies, other than messing around with that stupid bunny. Light never recalled owning a notebook like this, it was too thin for taking notes. The notebooks he usually used are not this big either, they are merely A5-sized books, or he would use papers instead._

 _Light curiously flipped through the book and was greeted by numerous blank pages, having been untouched. The book cover is solid black in color, blank as well; the back is the same. Light wondered what he was doing with this entirely featureless notebook and where it had come from._

 _He started to doubt that it was Sayu's as she shows a prominent dislike for having black objects in her possessions. Her belongings are always full of color, she wouldn't want to own something like this._

 _Light was puzzled and thought that it might be better to ask his family about that, in case it belongs to any of them or that they know something about this._

 _With his mind made up, Light stood and turned to walk out of the room, only to stumble backwards as he gasped._

 _Standing across him is a man, Light had not seen him there before or hear his door open._

 _The teen scrambled to grab a penknife from his table and pointed it at him, only to falter when he noticed something really strange._

 _For a second he thought he was looking into a mirror but dismissed that immediately, for the man had looked almost entirely identical to him except for a few distinguishing features._

 _His hair was cut and styled similarly to Light's, right down to the soft and silky quality of each strand of hair that he naturally possessed. Instead of the golden brown that Light has, the man's hair is colored dark red, like blood. His skin is paler than Light's, almost resembling L instead. His eyes were red just like his hair, sending a chill through Light when he noticed that they seemed to glow as he stared at him._

 _The man wore the same clothes as he did, a white collared shirt and brown trousers, Light's graduation gift from his father on his wrist._

 _He stared at Light impassively, while the other gaped at him, before his lips twisted into a smile, one that is cruel and crooked and not like anything he has seen before._

 _It snapped Light out of his trance and he raised the knife again, demanding, "Who the hell are you?"_

 _The man just smiled silently, the seconds ticking pass and making Light more and more frightened by the second._

 _He began to back away and that was when the man moved, charging at him in a blur and causing him to crash into the desk with a pained yell. The penknife fell out of his hands and the man took it with his pale, crooked fingers._

 _His eyes gleamed as he raised the blade high in the air and plunged down into Light's throat._

* * *

L sat watching as Light began to thrash in his sleep, panicked cries and whimpers slipping out of his lips before he jerked awake, his bound hand flying to his neck, causing the chain to jingle loudly in the darkness of the room.

Harsh breathing filled the air as Light attempted to calm down, his hand slowly moving to grab the covers while his chest rose and fall rapidly. Slowly, he turned to look at L, seeming to be unsurprised to find the detective perching by his side, staring at him.

"A nightmare, Light-kun?" L questioned, tilting his head in a manner he knew annoyed the teen.

"None of your business," he said groggily, his voice losing the bite that it is usually directed at him during the day. Light proceeded to turn away from him and tried to go back to sleep.

L still detect a certain tension in his shoulder that could possibly be caused by himself or the dream that Light obviously had earlier. He wondered what he had dreamt about that caused such a reaction in him, like someone had attacked him and was about to tear out his neck.

The silence dragged on and L slowly returned to his original position, staring into the blackness of the room as he waited for the time to pass.

He supposed he brought the boredom onto himself, since he was generous enough to stop working while Light is sleeping as the glow from the laptop and the typing noise disturbs him and impede his brain from functioning at its usual capacity during the day.

It's tough being the nice guy.

…

Sometimes.

* * *

The next day found Light sitting at his computer, skimming through articles reporting deaths that might have a connection to Kira since the time he was confined.

The killings have begun in the middle of it after it died down. While the heart attacks were clearly Kira's doing, the amount of deaths that had occurred are less numerous than usual. Most of the victims are still criminals but Light begin to notice that some of them are businessmen. He delved deeper into the issue and discovered that these men are corrupt and have cases of fraud or have embezzled money from their company in the past.

He supposed that wasn't really a deviation from Kira's usual behavior but the fact that they consisted of mostly businessmen is a cause for suspicion.

As Light compiled the list of people killed, L sat next to him staring boredly his own screen and munching on some fresh cherries.

The teen found himself glaring at L in disgust as the detective dipped the fruits that were perfectly good for eating on their own into a bowl of cream that had sugar mixed into them, bringing it to his mouth to suck on the cream for a bit before eating the cherries whole.

Light tore his eyes off of him and went back to his work, before his mind slowly began to wander, going over the events that happened recently.

Those that stuck out prominently are his period of confinement, the dismay and fear that suddenly appeared in the midst of it when he knew that he can't be Kira, no matter how much the evidence had pointed to him.

It's just… not right.

What he remembered the most though, was not this.

The memory that stuck out the most was the one of his father, busting both he and Misa out before throwing them into the car and driving off like a mad man.

He could vividly recall the choking fear and panic that enveloped him as the car shot off onto the road, as his father revealed that L had decided that he is Kira and was going to execute him through Interpol. Initially he had thought his father was trying to help him on the basis that he wasn't Kira, for him to survive and clear his name by finding the real culprit.

But no, that wasn't the case at all.

Soichiro had taken them out instead to kill him with his own hands out of shame and despair more than anything. He tried everything he could, to get his dad to come around because he really isn't Kira, that it was all a mistake. He can't deal with this injustice.

Of course, his father did not listen and pointed the gun at his head.

Light can still picture clearly in his head his dad's grim and ragged face as he solemnly uttered, "See you in hell."

After that, he couldn't decide whether to straight up pass out or purge all the built up fear and tension in his body by throwing up. In the end, he just sat, frozen, as his father drove them back to the building after it was revealed that it was all a plan by L to determine whether he was Kira, based on whether he would kill his father to save his own skin.

He couldn't forget the anger that he felt at the detective afterwards at causing him such fear and trauma that might plague him for his entire life.

Frankly, he's still pissed about it.

Light didn't think that he would be able to look at a gun in the same way ever again.

A sucking noise broke his train of thought and he turned to peer at the source of it, his head resting upon his hand as he stared at L with lazy spite as he licked the sugar-clad cherry before popping it into his mouth.

L flicked the remaining stalk into another bowl and picked up the next stalk of cherries, covering them with a generous coat of cream and proceeded to suck at it.

At some point, he noticed Light staring and glanced over at him, his tongue sticking out mid-lick.

Light realized what he was doing and turned away immediately, pretending to resume his work and hoped that L wouldn't be up to any funny business.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

While he wasn't looking, L stuck both cherries in his mouth and chewed on them noisily, letting out hums of appreciation loud enough only for Light to hear. He knew Light was easily annoyed and wasn't surprised to find him glancing back at him with narrowed eyes.

The detective tossed the stalks into his spare bowl and picked out another one, dipping it in the cream and began licking at it suggestively.

He noticed Light's eyes widening marginally at this inappropriate gesture in mortification, only to be distracted by Matsuda appearing next to him.

L stopped playing after that, stuffing the cherry in his mouth, including the stalk, while Matsuda offered Light his coffee.

"Are you alright?" He asked Light, who had looked distracted as he placed his mug carefully by the computer after thanking the man.

"I'm fine," Light smiled and L felt an irritation rise in him at the man who seemed to be more emotionally perceptive than he had let on as he looked like he didn't believe his words.

Maybe this is why people began to place more importance on EQ rather than just IQ, L supposed Matsuda could be useful for one thing rather than another, something to note down for the future.

Matsuda didn't mention anything as he smiled back in the most friendly manner, "Alright then, you can always ask me if you need help, Light-kun."

The teen nodded silently, letting out a soft breath as the other man walked away.

Light decided to himself that he should ignore the detective from now on, just to keep a hold on his temper as well as his already fraying sanity from the living absurdity beside him.

It was hardly a minute later when he heard his name being called by the ridiculous man.

Light paid no heed to it as he tried to focus, switching between the websites, reports and his own list that is slowly growing with Kira's kill count.

"Light-kun," that voice came again, settling on his ears like persistent fingers.

The brunette faltered in his work, before gathering his focus to retype the name correctly.

It shattered completely when L called him the again, more insistently until he took a deep breath and turned to him with a blandly uttered, "What."

"Hold out your hand," L said simply.

"What?" Confusion took over his features at what was asked of him.

"Hold out your hand, Light-kun."

The teen was suspicious, but curiosity still won out as he did as the detective asked.

L proceeded to drop something red in his open palm and it took Light a moment before he saw clearly what it was.

A knotted cherry stalk.

With Light's vision, it was easy to see the moisture that still clung to the red stem while it laid in his hand, the feeling of it were sticky and damp and most decidedly gross while the slimy spit began to pool in his hand.

The teen flicked it away with a yelp, attracting the attention of his father who looked up in surprise.

L's eyes followed the path of the cherry stalk in wonderment as it sailed through the air, before landing quite impressively in Aizawa's cup of coffee with barely a splash. The oblivious owner of the mug was across the room at that point in time, having a quiet discussion with Mogi.

"Wow," L uttered that at the same time that Light shrieked his name.

The reclusive man turned to him while teen continued, horrified "What'd you do that for?!"

"Did Light-kun not like his present?" L questioned, having little effort at appearing confused, "I made it specially for you."

Light looked as if he was about to implode on himself at the moment, feeding into his amusement, "Like? That was gross!"

"But I tied it using just my tongue."

"That doesn't mean that it wasn't disgusting!" Light snapped, "Not everything that comes from you is amazing, you demented freak!"

"Light!" Soichiro reprimanded him on his choice of word.

L secretly laughed to himself as Light's face flushed in shame as he retreated sullenly to his work.

He shot a glare at L where his father won't see it as the detective picked up another cherry and returned to his daily snacking with contentment.

It wasn't long before Aizawa, who was still oblivious of the happenings returned to his desk and sat down with a sigh. Light glanced over at him as he took a sip of his coffee and started when he discovered the cherry stalk floating in the middle of his drink.

Light pretended he didn't know anything about it when the man turned to L, who sat eating his cherry like nothing happened.

* * *

 _The brunette was deep in his work when a knock startled him out of it, it was as if the sound had came right next to his ear._

 _Light blinked at the open notebook in front of him, the blank pages now filled with lines of indiscernible scribbles. He was confused, wondering when he had begun to use the book. If he did, it probably didn't belong to any of his family members._

 _He wondered what he was doing, having forgotten about it despite the intense focus he had just a moment earlier. His computer is on, the screen showing a series of pictures attached to blurry words. The only thing that stuck out to him is the time on the toolbar, showing 23:51 in white._

 _Light squinted at the words but it didn't appear any clearer. He was about to check his settings when the knock came again from his bedroom door._

 _He minimized the window and stood with a long suffering sigh, thinking that Sayu might've come to disturb him because she couldn't sleep._

 _Light half-flung open his door, intending to dismiss her when he was greeted with a dark and empty hallway._

 _He was puzzled, as he looked left and right but found no one. He wondered if he was imagining it, or Sayu might be pranking him._

 _Light stepped into the hallway, the lights were all off and navigating in the dark would be hard if he were not an occupant of the house._

 _He crept over to Sayu's room, opening the door and finding his sister asleep._

 _He thought that she might still be tricking him and walked in, touching her cellphone that was left on the nightstand. It was cool, so she had not been awake recently, since his sister had a tendency of using it when she can't sleep._

 _Light was bewildered and went to check his parent's room, finding his mother asleep as well._

 _When he found nothing on the second story, he decided to return to his room and investigate the notebook when a distant knock sounded from the front door._

 _He paused, glancing quizzically into the darkness of the first floor._

 _He looked about another time, seeing if that woke anyone up. The lights were off as his family kept sleeping and the rapping sound came again, just a little louder this time._

 _Light sighed when he resigned to his fate that he had to be the one to open the door. He started down the stairs as the knock quickly turned into a continuous thud-thud-thud._

 _He threw a hand out to the doorknob in annoyance when the knocking abruptly stopped._

 _Light froze as well, his hand hovering in the cool air. A chill begin to permeate his chest when he had a feeling that the person on the other side of the door knew that he was about to open it, without him answering the knock or turning the lights on at all. There wouldn't even be a shadow for them to see at all._

 _Light slowly lowered his hand, staring at the doorknob cautiously as he took a tentative step back._

 _The next thought that passed through his head is how ridiculous that is._

 _But, just in case, Light stepped forward to look through the eyehole to see who was there._

 _All that he see was, however, darkness._

 _The lights were all off, literally. The porch lights that usually glowed yellow throughout the night were all off, the lights by the fence gates were off as well, when they were supposed to be on like the porch lights. The most peculiar were the street lights, they were the ones that were most definitely supposed to be on. Instead, all he saw were darkness, even the clouds were obscuring the brightness of the moon._

 _Still, Light was able to see the indistinct shape of a person standing at the front door, patiently waiting._

 _He had a bad feeling about this, as the figure was still, as if knowing that eventually, he would be let in._

 _Light took a deep breath and asked in a voice that could be picked up from the other side of the door._

" _Who is it?" He asked._

 _Suddenly, the wind picked up as the bushes begin to rustle, the clouds begin to move across the sky, revealing the dull glow of the moon that illuminated the dark red of the person's hair, his pale skin and the chilling eyes._

 _Light gaped in terror as a smile spread across his face as the red eyes focused at him through the eyehole. The lights that were off began to flicker, giving him a horrifying display of the smirking face and the glowing eyes._

" _It's just you," he said quietly, his voice a replica of a lower, darker and more sinister version of his own voice._

 _The door suddenly flung open, causing Light to stumble and fall over from the force._

 _Fright gripped him as the man stood smiling at him, beginning to walk into the house._

 _Light scrambled away on the floor, his pounding heart struck with every thud that the man's sneaker made as he stepped closer and closer towards him._

 _His eyes were full of glee as he laughed scornfully, "Oh, it's just you, Light…"_

 _Light clamped his hands over his ears, shutting his eyes as the words echoed in his mind in dark whispers._

 _It's just you._

 _It's just you._

 _Just you._

* * *

L's eyes jumped over to Light as he twitched violently, his panicked breaths filling the air in a suddenness that L was unfamiliar with.

It was strange, as the teen didn't show any signs of dreaming until this moment when he awoke.

L watched curiously while Light clutched onto the covers until his knuckles turned white, a startling contrast to the rest of his skin. He was shivering as well, as he tried to slow his breathing.

Light sighed when he achieved a certain level of calm, turning to face L who he already knew was watching him blatantly from the same spot as yesterday.

"Another nightmare, Light-kun?"

The teen sat up slowly, raising his hand to wipe the sweat that had apparently gathered on his brow. He let a shaky breath as he answered, "Yeah."

L stared at him harder after that at the unexpected answer.

Light thought back to his dream, the red-haired man that looked exactly like him, the glowing red eyes and the chilling smile. An uneasiness crawled across his skin and Light felt dizzy with apprehension when he recalled he had a similar dream with the same man with the same frightful smile.

A gasp escaped him as he abruptly stated, "Ryuuzaki, bathroom."

L sighed as he hopped off the bed and let the teen lead him to the connecting bathroom. He waited as the door was swung closed as far as it could go before the chain stopped it. He heard the tap turn on and leaned against the wall as Light splashed his face with water.

The detective jumped when a sharp scream tore out of the room, prompting him to open the door and rush in.

What he saw was Light standing before the mirror, frozen in terror as he stared at his own reflection.

L blinked and glanced over at it, seeing nothing but Light's stricken face and his own puzzled expression.

"Light-kun?"

The brunette didn't notice him as he kept staring, mouth open as he took a step back and stumbled. Again, L peered at the mirror and still saw nothing.

"Light-kun?" He called in a louder voice, worried when he still didn't respond.

L touched his arm cautiously and he jumped, his wide eyes flickered over to him.

"Are you alright?"

Light began to shake his head, then decided against it as he eyes flew back to the mirror, seeming to regard something, "I-it's nothing." An embarrassed smile was put on as he uttered, "I must've been really tired, I'm seeing things."

He gave a little laugh and L was nothing but unconvinced while Light muttered, "It's nothing, I'm going back to bed."

L cast a final glance at the mirror, before following Light out of the bathroom.

What he didn't hear was a low laughter that came from it, as a certain red-haired man with a wicked gleam in his eyes watched them leave, seen only by Light and no one else.

When the lights were turned off, there was nothing but two pinpoints of glowing red that were its eyes. The laughter echoed about the room, fading as the glow slowly disappeared.

* * *

 **Edited: 29/10/17**

 **A/N: ... (falls asleep)**


	5. Invitation

It wasn't everyday that L found himself at a lost.

Correction, L rarely ever finds himself lost, or confused, perplexed, bemused, discombobulated.

L set down his sugary tea and nodded to himself as he mused, disregarding the repulsed look that Light sent his way, as if the detective is a lunatic and a disease that had to be avoided at all costs.

Discombobulate, that one is quite the word, it's amusing too: to confuse, disconcert, upset or frustrate, sometimes in an amusing way. That last part is rather fitting, this current situation _is_ ridiculous: the world's greatest detective, able to tackle all manner of complicated and bizarre cases in the way that no one had ever seen before is utterly thrown off by none other than one eighteen-year-old boy, who may or may not be the world's greatest mass murderer.

Well, anyway, it's not everyday that L found himself discombobulated, and when he does, up to three things could happen.

One, he might get depressed.

Two, his queer tendencies might be more drastic than usual.

Three, he would find it fit to cause more misery on his favorite victim, aka Light.

Or, there is a fourth option, all of the above.

This unusual occurrence didn't happen overnight, rather, it had been a while. Ever since the time three months ago, when Light's memories have fled him. It'd gotten worse ever since then, not the three things but the confusion that L had revolving around the teen. To put it more specifically in two words: sudden changes.

There was not one, but two changes that L had observed in him.

The first was easily the transition between the Light that had memories and the Light that does not.

For the second, there is something stranger revolving around it.

If the detective were to think about it, he would say that the change have happened while Light had been in the bathroom two weeks and five days ago, that one time were he had screamed while staring at the mirror as if he had seen a ghost.

L certainly hoped it wasn't Bloody Mary or something, he'd had enough of supernatural beings after the mention of death gods.

 _No_ , he definitely isn't afraid of ghosts, it'll simply be troublesome if he had to deal with them in the investigation.

Anyway, back to the point, the second transition in Light had been slightly more subtle that the first, where the teen had begun to behave strangely after that point in time.

Light said that he was tired and wanted to go back to sleep that day and he did went to bed. The thing is, he didn't actually sleep, L could tell from his breathing and the lack of the dreaming stage while he lay there. In fact, the teen had slept even less than L had let him ever since that day.

This is a concern because Light did not let go of any opportunity to catch up on his sleep, L knew that from the way that he is excessively obsessed with health and his looks, he probably did not want to end up looking like a ghost like the insomniac.

L speculated that it had something to do with the strange increase in his nightmares, where it had occurred on an average of once every two days. That was during the first week. Later, Light had taken to the new sleeping schedule of three hours per day, effectively adding eye bags and faint shadows onto his face, as well as a slight decrease in emotional control and focus.

That didn't hamper the investigation, though, not at all.

In addition to that, Light had become more distant and less courteous to everyone around him, which seemed to come as a shock to them except for L, who is only mildly perturbed by that.

L didn't miss the worried glances that Soichiro throw his son every now and then. Matsuda also did the same, but on a less frequent scale. Aizawa seemed puzzled and slightly irritated at first at the lack of respect, then he took it in stride and seemed to forget about it until he had to talk to Light again. Mogi's reaction only consisted of the widening of his eyes, that was all.

The detective also noticed Light's strange tendencies to glance at the mirrors. That was at first before he realized that he is doing the same to every form of reflective surface. Not long after that, he avoided them like the plague, then covering up all the mirrors in their room with thin blankets that he had dug out of the closet.

L was stunned at first, staring at him while he did that without a word. It was really, _really_ strange and bewildering because the detective is under the impression that Light is in love with his reflection, given his vanity.

Never, at any point did he ever take the blankets down to check his features, not even while brushing his hair, one thing that L found Light enjoying during their first few days of having been chained together and during the surveillance.

Thinking back on it, L thought that he is perhaps even frightened of whatever he saw in the mirror. When L asked him about it, he just clamped up and went silent for the entire day, another puzzling behavior as it differs slightly from the usual. The action is the same, but the mood that accompanied it is not of childish annoyance but of sullenness, with a hint of fear.

L was having a thought that Light had developed some sort of psychological illness, or that it had been present for a while but have gone undetected.

"Light-kun."

Light twitched, then turned to face him wearily, "What, Ryuuzaki?"

"Could you pass the sugar?"

Light stared at him, "It's just next to your cup, Ryuuzaki."

"Yes," L said in a tone that implied that he's an idiot, "I can't reach it, however, so would you do the common courtesy of passing that bowl of sugar?"

"Don't you have enough for your tea?" Light grumbled, his body language indicated that he was going to ignore it and return to his work.

"Yes," the detective said again in that subtle 'duh' voice, "But I don't need it for the tea."

Light glared at him, annoyed, "What the hell do you need it for, then?"

L stared at him for a few long seconds, before saying, "I'm going to take the sugar cubes… and _eat_ it."

Light stared at him in equal parts apprehension and disgust, pushing the bowl of sugar such that it slides across the table to him "You're insane."

"Not as much as you are," L muttered, tossing a cube in his mouth and stated with a crunch, "Is Light-kun ready to see a shrink to assess your mental health?"

"No, thanks," the teen said, turning back to his typing, "My mental health is fine."

"Perhaps that is what Kira thinks," L mentioned, licking his fingers. Meanwhile, Light's fingers had stopped as he stared stonily at the screen. "Perhaps Light-kun is having issues in his mind, where he is actually Kira when he thinks he is not."

Light's fingers curled up, turning into fists as L said with a little smile, "Perhaps a visit to the doctor is due?"

What L got as a reply is a hard punch to the face.

It took over ten minutes of yelling and pulling from everyone among the Taskforce to stop the fight, five minutes of harsh lecture from Soichiro to Light as well as L (the latter wasn't so pleased about that), and five minutes of him asking his son whether he is okay.

Light apologized, said he's fine and mentioned that he'd rather spend more time to crack the case than to mull over the issue between him and the detective.

With that, it was almost like the fight had never happened, save for a couple of bruising on the both of them as well as the heightened tension in the air that was not there before.

That was another thing that L didn't get.

The sudden desire, the need, the zeal that possessed Light in his pursuit of the case. Sometimes, he even offered to stay up when he wasn't pretending to sleep to work on the case alongside the insomniac. It was puzzling and L asked why he had poured such an effort into it.

"I want this case to be over as soon as possible," he said, "I want to clear my name and also for there to be as little deaths as possible that would be caused by Kira."

He detected idealism in the last part of what was said but the rest doesn't fit into the puzzle.

Before that incident with the mirror, Light had never expressed such a need to solve the case, not to the point of sacrificing his time that could be used for his vanity and especially, sleeping. Light didn't skip out on eating, strangely. Because from what L had experienced and was familiar with, logically, Light would miss out on eating as well.

Unease bit through him and the mark showed up on his thumb.

He hoped that Light won't end up like _that case_.

L was tempted to ask but he didn't question anymore, because there are too many similarities. If that was peculiar, Light didn't show it. Instead, he went back to his work, until three in the morning when he couldn't take it anymore and demanded to go to bed, another inconsistency in this new pattern of behavior.

One similar feature is that they have too much pride to admit that anything is wrong, Light and him, with the most likely possibility that there is something wrong.

L tore his gaze away from the teen, who had strangely not noticed anything. As far as L had observed, the teen always seemed to know when he was being watched and would always react as if the detective was a giant green bacteria.

Not this time.

While he worked, L eyed the mug of coffee that have been left unattended beside him and an idea slowly forms in his head, spurred by the three evils sparked by his confusion. L glanced at the brunette, who's scrolling through the articles at an impressive speed and most definitely blind to all other sensation around him.

L smiled to himself in satisfaction.

Carefully, he reached his cuffed hand over the table and hooked a long finger around the handle.

L glanced at him again, where Light still doesn't notice a thing.

He pulled the mug towards him, the cup sliding across the wooden surface with barely a sound, it was the chains that had let out a small jiggle from his movement. L checked once again if Light was aware that his coffee was being stolen and was silently thrilled to find that he was too focused on his work to know about it.

L smirked to himself and picked up the bowl of sugar that he had apparently lost interest in, because seriously, L losing interest in sugar? _Never_. Unless he is plagued by the three evils and Light is the culprit. That warrants a little payback. If L doesn't get his sugar because of that little punk, then he'll be the one to get it.

One by one, he dropped the pristine white cubes into the coffee, admiring the little sparkles set off by the grains that were compressed into the adorable compact shape as they tumbled into the brown liquid and disappeared from sight.

Once L had mixed half the sugar from the bowl into the drink, he grabbed his teaspoon and stirred the drink up as silently as possible. That probably didn't matter as Light didn't appear to notice anything. If he heard, he would think that was for L's tea and wouldn't care enough about it to look.

L pushed the mug back to where it was and waited patiently for the best reaction he could ever get.

Ten minutes later, Light finally reached over to take a sip of his coffee.

L was internally jumping in joy when the boy's eyes bugged out in the most hilarious way he could ever imagine. The shock made Light take an involuntary swallow and he set the mug down with a slam as he choked, coffee flying from his mouth and landing everywhere it was able to touch.

All the occupants of the room turned to stare at him as he gagged as if he was about to die. Light was fumbling about clumsily, wanting so badly to get rid of that disgusting taste from his mouth and throat but was unable to.

When he finally recovered enough to stop his persistent hacking, he set the most toxic glare anyone had ever seen upon L and screamed, " _YOU FUCKING BASTARD_!"

L stared back at him innocently, "Yes?"

" _Ryuuzaki_!" Light roared, "I know you did it, you piece of shi-"

"Light-kun's coffee was too bitter," L said in response, "I was simply trying to sweeten it up."

"You wanted to _kill_ me!"

"Now that's just dramatic."

If anyone had ever seen a face turn lividly dark, they would say Light's did.

"I'll show you dramatic!" He snarled.

"Light!" Soichiro shouted in warning, anger marring his face as well.

Light didn't seem inclined to listen, his eyes glittering with fury. L stared back at him, if Light hadn't been blinded by rage, he would have seen the slight change in his expression as he did.

L hopped off his chair, Light followed, standing up with such force that his chair rolled back and hit Matsuda's desk, where the other man flinched at the little bump.

As he stormed towards L, the others stood, ready to break the two up when L did the unexpected.

The detective turned and walked away.

The teen was surprised, startled even, his steps faltering at his opponent's sudden retreat and fury was beginning to give way to curiosity. Light ignored that, insisting to himself that L had some weird plan in mind and the retreat is a ruse to get him to let his guard down before he strikes for real.

"Wha-"

"It appears that Light-kun is in need of a change of clothes," L interrupted. This made Light pause, looking down to see that his favorite cream sweater is indeed ruined by trails and spots of brown. It was beginning to smell like roasted coffee as well, it wasn't a bad smell but Light didn't want that on him.

He shook the distraction away and looked up with a glower, "What is your deal?"

The detective stared back at him silently, the dim light that he is in making him look solemn. Light shook that thought away as well, as L muttered, "Similarities."

"What?" It wasn't hard to tell from his tone that he is confused, as well as believing that whatever L is doing is nothing but a dirty trick.

Light was startled when L suddenly started walking, dragging him away by the cuff. "We'll be back once we are done," L announced to the Taskforce, before disappearing out the door with the angry teen in tow.

Soichiro stared after them worriedly, while Aizawa stated more to assure himself than the older man, "They're probably not up to anything, don't worry about it."

Needless to say, nobody believed that.

* * *

L stood silently by the door as he watched Light rummage through the closet with more force than was necessary, occasionally mumbling to himself whether he should just take a shower, as well as other things.

"Fucking insane-" Light growled under his breath as he went through his clothes on the hangers, "Stupid bitch-"

"I heard all that," L stated blandly.

Light tossed a glare over at him, "And why do _you_ care?"

The detective shrugged, "Light-kun seemed terribly mad."

"You think?"

"Light-kun isn't even looking at his clothes."

The teen snarled at him and snatched a random piece of clothing from the closet, it happened to be his black cotton shirt, that should match with his trousers well. Light let that fleeting need for coordination take charge of his mind for a moment, before it was replaced with a regular pulse of rage. He roughly tugged the dirtied shirt over his head and began to put the shirt on.

"I guess I could apologize for the prank," L said but it sounded more like he was considering to himself.

Light glared at him, pausing at the fourth button, "For trying to kill me with sugar."

"Sugar doesn't kill," L said incredulously.

"Diabetes does," Light growled, tossing his shirt into the hamper, "I hope you die from that soon."

"That isn't very nice."

"And when have you ever been nice?"

"Good point," L considered, "But I haven't been mean either, besides, that statement is very Kira-like."

If Light was angry, the look he had on his face indicated he was beyond that point at that moment, "Everything I do just points to me being Kira, doesn't it!?"

Before L could say anything, Light continued shouting as he slammed the closet door, "How many times do I have to tell you, _I'm not fucking Kira_!"

"You could be," L responded with an almost smile.

Light was about to yell at him, then realized what's he's alluding to and bellowed, "Would you be serious for a fucking second you demented freak!"

"I realize Light-kun could take a joke."

"Light-kun is not in the mood right now!" He roared, looking like he wanted to strangle the man.

"I am quite amused."

"GAH!"

L let a chuckle slip out and stopped when he witnessed Light rubbing at his temples like it hurt. It wasn't the first time he had seen it, where the teen does that occasionally while they were working or eating. It only told about the consequence of him not sleeping and that would only get worse.

"Is catching Kira really that important to you?"

"What?"

L set a scrutinizing stare on him, "If that is really the case, we wouldn't be arguing about silly things right now and would have been back to work on it a long time ago."

Light stared at him as if he had grown another head while he asked, "Tell me, what is the real reason for you forgoing sleep?"

For a second, the teen looked like he had been struck, before chuckling, "The hell are you talking about, Ryuuzaki? Of course catching Kira is important to me."

L gave him a disbelieving stare, "Hand."

Light rolled his eyes and held out his arm, hardly even flinching when L slapped the cuffs back onto his wrist with more force that was necessary. He didn't expect L to give the chain a hard tug right after, causing him to stumble forward until he was almost nose-to-nose with the detective.

The teen tried to twist away but the detective held fast as he said roughly, "Look into my eyes, Light-kun, and say that again."

"The fuck-"

"Convince me that it's really about catching Kira and not about something else."

Light glared at him and L could see that his anger is faltering, fueled by another stronger emotion behind it, just a little push and he would be able to see it reflected in the brunette's eyes.

"Is catching Kira really that important to you, Light-kun?" L asked, tilting his head slightly.

Light stared back into his eyes, undeterred by the challenge as he growled, "Yes."

"Enough to even forgo sleep?"

"Yes."

"That was a lie," L said, his grip tightening.

He witnessed the beginnings of a panic on Light's face but the latter kept it masked as much as he could, while he demanded, "Let me go."

L paid no attention to his words, just stared intensely, thinking that if he could cause the other's calm to shatter then he would be able to find the answers.

"It's none of your business," Light said, pulling on his arm, "Let go!"

" _It's none of your business, L."_

The detective gasped at the sudden flash of memory, that line that was delivered to him with deep loathing and Light took that opportunity to escape his grasp, casting him a look that conveyed, 'what the hell is wrong with you?'

"We should return," L stated, "They will be wondering where we went to."

Light gave him a strange look but seemed too shaken to ask anything before walking off immediately. The detective followed him out without a single word.

As they walked down the hallway, L said, "Light-kun should rest more."

The teen turned, "Why should I listen to you?"

"It is detrimental to your health," he continued, "If Light-kun is underperforming because of the lack of sleep, it would hinder the investigation as a consequence."

"So that is your ulterior motive," Light said, "You are worried about the progress of the case."

It was silent as they walked through the empty hallway. It was when the two reached the elevator, while Light pressed the button for the sixth floor when L spoke.

"Perhaps," he muttered.

Light huffed, "Figures."

L turned to glance at him at that.

They didn't talk again for the rest of the day.

* * *

 _A loud beeping assaulted his ears._

 _Startled, Light opened his eyes, finding himself sitting on a bench on a pavement. Ahead of him is a stretch of familiar road that he remembered passing a thousand times when he was in high school but not quite. There are a couple things that didn't quite make sense._

 _He didn't remember there being a street in the place of where the old shops are. He didn't remember there being a bench where he is sitting, or the vast expanse of giant screens on the buildings in front of him like there are on Shibuya Square. And across the tarmac in front of him, instead of cars, there were people of all shapes and sizes and all sorts of background, walking in different directions and making the scene look disorientating. He turned behind him and saw another stretch of path, this one with cars on it. That was where he had heard the beeping from, perhaps from an annoyed driver at the slow traffic._

 _Light remained seated, not sure where he is supposed to go and where he is supposed to be._

 _With a lack of anything else to do, he looked up at the screen and caught the news broadcast on channel 9, the lady newscaster, donned in a beige suit jacket and wearing way too much powder spoke about advancement of the train system and the pursuit to add more rail lines. Light was not interested in that. Instead, his eyes were attracted to the text rolling across the blue line on the bottom of the screen._

' _Crime rates at a record-breaking zero percent.'_

 _He gaped, unsure what he is seeing is actually happening._

 _Light rubbed his eyes but the words have disappeared off-screen. So he waited and it showed up again a few minutes later, confirming that that is indeed a fact._

" _You must be kidding me," he uttered in disbelief._

" _I don't think it's that funny," a voice said beside him._

 _Light spun around in surprised, he didn't know when someone had came to sit on the bench next to him, or that this person looks and sounds exactly just like him. Spooked, Light shot up to his feet, staring at his almost lookalike who wore a smirk on his face._

 _He was exactly as Light had remembered him, red hair, red eyes and pale skin. He was wearing the same exact outfit that Light wore, beige jacket and brown trousers. The man was leaning back on the wooden bench, his hands behind his head and his right leg crossed languidly over the other, the perfect image of 'relaxed'._

 _A light breeze blew through the area and Light had to resist the urge to fix his hair as habit bid him to. A cold chill permeated through him when the man reached up to ruffle his hair in the same manner that Light always did. While he does that, the clouds overhead passed over the sky, blocking out the sun and covering the area in shadows. And when that happened, the red eyes glowed._

" _Well?" The man asked, startling Light, "It's what you want, isn't it?"_

" _How did you-" Light faltered, as he latched onto a more pressing question, "Who the hell are you?"_

 _There was a flash of teeth as he gave a maddening grin and asked, "Whatever do you mean, Light?"_

" _Stop calling me 'Light'," the teen glared, "I mean what I asked."_

 _The man sighed, as if this is bothersome, he adjusted his position so that he sat, leaning forward as he said, "As I've already said, Light. I am you."_

 _He smirked, while Light stared at him, "And you are me, we're the same, Light."_

 _The teen stuttered, remembering the reflections and growled, "No, we're not."_

 _The man stood and Light backed away, stopping when a passer-by brushed by behind him and shot him an annoyed glance. He turned back and the man smirked._

" _If we're not, then how else would I know this is what you have envisioned?"_

" _What vision?" Light asked, almost afraid that he knew the answer._

 _The man spread his arms, his open palms facing the heavens, "This, Light. The perfect world, a world without crime, one where the innocents are able to walk freely without any fear."_

 _Before Light could escape, he grabbed onto his shoulders and spun him around forcefully, "Isn't this what you've wished for?"_

 _The words are still rolling across the screen and the man continued to speak by his ear, "Isn't it your desire to create this world? A world without crime?"_

" _I… yes," he blurted._

 _He felt a smile curve behind his ear._

" _But it's impossible," Light said, brushing him off to face him, "It's only an ideal concept. The perfect world doesn't exist, it's useless to pursue it."_

 _He chuckled, "Tsk, tsk, Light. Where has your ambition gone?"_

 _Annoyed, Light snapped, "What?"_

" _This isn't like you, Light," he said, "It isn't like you to give up, just like that. The Light we know is relentless, passionate and fearless. You are a sorry excuse for yourself."_

 _His temper flared, "Excuse me?"_

" _Of course, I don't believe that," the man said, "You are lying."_

 _Light paled, before his expression turned back to anger, "I don't know what you're talking about."_

" _Don't even bother trying, Light," the man said, laughing, "We both know what's the truth here."_

" _Then what are you trying to say?"_

" _What if I told you that the ideal world is achievable?"_

 _Light looked at him suspiciously and demanded, "How?"_

 _The man smiled and his eyes seemed to glow bright red as he said, "Rid it of evil."_

" _Kill them?"_

" _Exactly my point, Light…"_

 _Realization dawned on him and Light paled even more and he began to back away only for someone to crash into him. Light barely noticed it as he kept staring at the man._

" _Wait, you, you're-"_

" _Exactly who you think I am, Light," the man laughed, "But that makes you too."_

" _No, no- That can't be…"_

 _Kira's hand shot forward and grabbed him, pulling before he could escape into the crowd. Light struggled and called for help but no one seemed to care. It was like nothing is happening and the crowd continued walking._

" _Don't get me wrong," Kira hissed, getting his attention, "They deserved to die, Light. Those low-lives, the criminals, the rotten part of the society. It was because of them that the innocents are made to suffer, when they should be walking free, with no fear from evil. They fucked up everything, Light and they are able to walk free."_

" _Isn't a safe world what you want for your family? For Sayu?" Kira's grip slowly loosened when it seemed like Light isn't going to run away, "And what of Father, working his fingers to the bone because of these rotten crooks. And what of Mother, Light? Managing the household on her own and waiting, always waiting for Father to come home."_

 _Kira walked away, as Light stared after him, hanging onto every word, "The justice system is null and crooked. It needs to be rectified, it needs to be absolute, the rotten cannot get away with their crimes."_

 _Light kept staring, understanding because this is what he'd always thought all along and uttered, "They need to be punished."_

 _Kira turned to him, pleased. Fire danced in his eyes and his voice were thick with power, words coiling about Light's mind, "The perfect world, free of filth and crime is achievable only if we work together."_

 _The red-haired man stepped towards him and this time, Light didn't step away._

 _Kira stopped right in front and him, "We can create this together, the perfect world," the words slithered into his ears._

 _Kira extended a hand in front of him, meant for Light to take it as he smiled kindly, "What do you say, Light?"_

 _Light's eyes flickered to the hand, unease and doubt filled him at such words of promise. He hesitated, wondering if he should accept it. This is all exactly what he wants but he doesn't trust Kira quite yet. He looked into the face of the man who continued to smile invitingly._

" _Join me, Light."_

 _Light glanced at the hand and reached out._


	6. Friends

L sat in the workroom, munching on some cream puffs that Watari had bought from a pastry shop nearby. It wasn't too bad, he could now see how it was well-liked with the custard and fresh cream filling. Too bad for the company that the goods isn't as popular here as they are overseas, mostly due to the fact that Japanese generally aren't a fan of snacks like these.

Well, L is, as long as the puff came along with a generous topping of chilled chocolate cream, caramel sauce, honey and strawberries. Those are added by Watari because L was genuinely after the authentic Hokkaido milk taste that these puffs had to offer but had found them too plain.

Now, this is perfect.

The detective took a huge bite out of the coconut-sized puff and hummed happily in appreciation, flecks of cream sticking to his nose but he didn't seem to notice.

Light was the only one in the room with him, ignoring the loud smacking noises that L seemed to make deliberately just to annoy everyone else around him as he went through the statistics of various large corporations.

Today, he left his coffee mug on the right of his computer instead of the left, lest the sugar incident happens again. It's a little inconvenient for him as he had reached for the mug several times out of habit, only for it to come back empty as it had been moved to the other side of the machine.

But god, anything but the sugar prank.

Also, Light didn't appreciate being left alone with the detective any longer because that just opened more opportunities for the sugar fiend to torment him since there's nobody else around to stop him. Maybe except for Watari, but Light figured that the old man would be on L's side anyway so that doesn't really count.

Speak of the devil, here he comes, pushing the metal cart into the room.

"Your tea, sir," Watari said, as he set a fresh pot of tea, along with a cup and a heaping bowl of sugar.

"Thank you, Watari," L said, his voice muffled with a mouth full of pastry.

"I see you are enjoying the cream puff, Ryuuzaki," Watari said in amusement.

"Mmhfnph," L replied, busy with his food.

The old man chuckled and Light raised an eyebrow as he observed the interaction between the two.

When he left, the detective swallowed his food loudly and reached for another one. Before he could stuff that into his mouth, Light asked, "Has Watari been working for you long?"

"Work for me?" L turned to him, puzzled.

"Doesn't he?"

"Nope," L said, biting into the puff with a huge 'nom'.

"So you work for him, then?" Light questioned, curious now.

"Nuh," L took a while before swallowing, smacking his lips, "It's more like a mutual partnership."

"What kind of partnership?"

"That's classified information," L said, grabbing another piece of cream puff, letting out a soft sound of despair when a strawberry slid off the top. He picked the fruit up, tossing it into his mouth and continued, licking his fingers, "Let's just say he's my caretaker."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Mm-hm."

L didn't say anymore after that, preoccupied with his midnight buffet.

Light sighed and turned back to his work, glancing at the clock that stated one in the morning. Maybe he can keep this up until two, it doesn't look like L is too bothered to care about the time just yet, seeing how many pieces of puffs he still had left.

Light didn't think he would want to dream again… tonight.

The teen shook his head and focused on the task before him, ignoring the eating noises coming from his left.

* * *

"Hey, Ryuuzaki."

"Hmm?"

L turned to the brunette, licking on the remnants of the chocolate cream on his fingers. It's now half past one and he's craving for a bit of ice-cream. Too bad Watari won't let him have any more, it wasn't like he was working on anything anyway. He just doesn't feel like it when he was so sure that Light is, or was Kira.

"I think I've found something."

L bit the pad of his thumb and pushed off the desk with one of his foot, sliding right next to Light to look over his shoulder, The chain let out a loud clinking as it rattled against the chairs. L didn't miss the teen flinching when he got too close. Light shifted away slightly, casting a glare that was tamer than all of those sent towards L, before moving back to the screen.

"Look at this."

L studied the screen, finding graphs on company shares over the past month.

Almost all of the companies showed a fall, while the only corporation that saw a sharp rise in capital…

"Yotsuba Corporation?"

"You find it strange?"

"Indeed…"

Light did some typing into his computer and more windows are pulled up while he explained, "So I did some digging into this and found that businessmen who had association with rival companies had been dying, some by illnesses and others from accidents, except for these three."

The last three windows that popped up are the death details of another three leading businessmen.

"Heart attacks?"

"I've looked into their medical history and found that two of them didn't have any heart issues or illnesses relating to their hearts in the past, neither do their family history held any records of heart attacks," Light said, "The third one did have a heart attack two months ago but survived and had to undergo bypass operation. The medical files showed that there was only one clogged artery, the others are all clean so there shouldn't by a relapse this soon, this had to be-"

"Kira's doing," L said, "And the other deaths that are not heart attacks revealed that Kira can kill others in more ways other than a heart attack. Great job, Light-kun. Send the files over to me and I'll give the others a briefing tomorrow."

A little smile slipped onto Light's face at the compliment before it was immediately chased away by a yawn.

"Tea?"

"No, thanks," Light said, waving his hand before turning to glare at him, "And when are you going to return to your side?"

"I have to watch you, Light-kun," he said, "So I have to be close."

"You're a little bit too close!"

With that, he shoved L's chair, causing it to slide back into his spot. He'd pushed a little too hard, though and the detective was almost squashed into the desk.

"It seems like your focus is a little bit off," L muttered, pushing himself back into the correct spot, "So, tea?"

Light turned to glower at him.

* * *

L sat wriggling his toes victoriously when Light was annoyed enough to accept his offer of tea. Light wasn't in as a good mood while he sat next to him and brooded. Watari came in with another teacup and filled it with the pot of tea that he had brought in earlier, setting next to Light.

The teen warily shifted it to the other side of his computer, he really didn't want a repeat of the sugar episode.

L didn't seem to notice a thing.

Light tentatively took a sip of the tea that L usually drank and found that it wasn't too bad.

Ten minutes later, the teen found that he couldn't keep his eyes open no matter how hard he fought against the sudden surge of weariness. Light yawned, lying his head on the table, his head facing L's side of the desk.

Next thing he saw was L leaning into his field of vision, nibbling on his thumb.

Then, he smirked.

 _You goddamn filthy bastard_ , Light thought, the last thing he did before he slipped into oblivion.

* * *

Light stirred awake, disturbed by the sun shinning into his face.

He groaned, his hand coming up to rub his face. The teen found himself lying on the bed that he and L shared, the duvet covering him until his chest, it looked like he had barely moved throughout the night, which is an anomaly these days. He didn't remember coming back to bed, he did remember that he found Yotsuba, though.

Light lifted his head, turning to glance at the clock and was mildly puzzled to find his chair by the side of the bed.

He stared, wondering what it's doing here.

Then it all came back to him.

Light turned to the other side of the bed, finding L sitting in a crouch, a laptop placed in front of his legs. His arms reached to either side of his folded legs, his fingers busy at work. He looked as if he had worked all night. L didn't turn to him but Light knew he was watching.

The teen sat up, "Why did you do that?"

L slowly turned towards him, "What, Light-kun?"

There was a flash of anger in his eyes and he demanded once again, "Why, did you do that, L?"

"I thought I told you to call me 'Ryuuzaki'."

" _Fine, Ryuuzaki_ ," Light growled, "Now why the hell did you do that?"

"Light-kun is tired," L said, returning to his work, "But he refuses to go to bed."

"You didn't ask."

"I did," L grumbled, "A number of times and you refused so I stopped asking."

"Mind your own damn business," Light said, glaring at him as he tossed the duvet aside.

L recognized that as a cue to go to the bathroom to for his morning routine, so he left the laptop and crawled across the bed, hopping off before he gets pulled off by his arm.

"It is a factor that might affect the case," L said, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "So I took precautions."

"It is _not_ ," Light tossed back, walking into the bathroom, "I found our suspects perfectly fine, thank you very much."

"Precautions, Light-kun."

He started when the other stabbed a toothbrush in his direction, missing his face by an inch, "That. Does not warrant you to give me your spiked tea."

"For your information the drugs are in the teacup, not the tea," L mentioned and Light emitted a low growl. The detective ignored that and said, "Besides, your health is at risk if you do not have adequate sleep."

Light gave him a deadpan stare, "Look who's talking."

The teen proceeded to brush his teeth while L stood off the to side, waiting for him to be done.

When he did, Light seemed to have calmed down slightly and asked, giving him a sidelong glance, "Now why did you do that?"

"What?"

"You didn't give me an answer, Ryuuzaki."

L stared at him, his hands deep inside his pocket and Light waited.

"That's classified information," the detective said eventually.

Light's expression steeled.

"Out." He pointed at the door but there was no bite in his voice.

L gave him a quizzical look.

"Out," he gritted his teeth, "I'm taking a shower."

The detective complied, unlocking the handcuff and leaving to stand outside the door while he waited.

He wasn't particularly bothered by Light's anger.

He'll get over it, eventually.

* * *

What L didn't expect is the fact that 'eventually' proved to be exceedingly boring.

It was two days after the tea incident and the Taskforce is hard at work, delving into the Yotsuba case with renewed energy, trying to find who exactly is Kira within the corporation. Light is as usual, absorbed in his work and ignoring L, who's munching on cookies and twirling in half-circles in his chair.

What's unusual is that they have not spoken for two days.

L had nothing to say to the others other than work and he wasn't looking forward to be acquainted with any of them, so that just left Light.

Who refused to talk to him for two. Full. Days.

Annoyed, L gave an aggressive crunch to the cookies and they disintegrated, crumbs flying everywhere onto him, the chair and the floor.

Light wasn't even bothered to send him a disgusted stare at that.

L brushed cookie crumbs off of himself, picked up a stray chocolate chip on his shirt and tossed that into his mouth. He turned to the boy, "Light-kun."

It was as if Light hadn't heard a single thing, L knew he wasn't deaf so he tried again with the same result.

"Can I have my report please?"

Light's fingers came to a stop, before he started typing something into the keyboard.

A few minutes later, there's a beep coming from L's computer. The detective opened up his e-mail and found the report in the inbox. The subject read, 'Here's your report, asshole.'

He clicked on it and more words popped up, along with the attachment.

'Go fuck yourself' and 'L's stupid, useless report'.

L huffed at the childishness and left that alone, taking a sip of his tea.

He then proceeded to unhappily chew on his thumb. L didn't think that dealing with grudge-bearing, inconsequential idiots is part of his job requirements.

Two full days, for god's sake.

L let out a loud sigh.

Unfortunately for him, that was when Matsuda had chose to walk past the both of them. The bachelor heard that and took a few steps backwards.

"Ryuuzaki, are you okay?"

The detective turned to him slowly, giving him the image of a very bored and depressed wind-up toy, "I am fine, what is it?"

"Ah, it's uh, nothing," Matsuda gave an awkward laugh, "It's just… you seem a bit blue, there."

Light stumbled in his typing and had to backspace a few times to get rid of the senseless words. L noticed that immediately and an idea formed in his head along with a wicked, internal smile.

"Oh, is that so?" L played with his lip, "Then perhaps I might be a little… depressed."

Light's typing sped up marginally, though nothing is showing on his face… yet.

"Why? What happened?"

L gave another sigh, this time softer than the first, he didn't need the others in on it at the moment. His gaze crept onto the ceiling, as if thinking, "It appears that I might've angered Light-kun again, now he's ignoring me."

Matsuda turned to Light curiously, where the other is currently performing the art of 'nothing is happening right now' quite perfectly, "What did you do?"

"I think I might've," L's thumb froze in place on his lip and his eyes flickered to Matsuda, "Went a little too far… that night."

Light stumbled over his typing again. This time, he'd stopped completely, staring at the screen in shock.

Matsuda's eyes widened comically. While he had leaned in to listen to L at first, he now stood up straight suddenly, backing away, "Oh, wow, um. I didn't know you guys were in that _kind_ of relationship."

Soichiro's ears would've pricked up at that moment if they could as they latched on to those words immediately.

He spun to face them, "What relationship?!"

At the same time, Light had spun to face Matsuda, "We're not in that kind of relationship!"

All other eyes in the room turned to them immediately, startled by the commotion.

Matsuda was stunned, frozen in place like a statue as both Yagamis set their intense gaze onto him.

L was guffawing internally at the ridiculous scene. He didn't quite keep his cool as a little chuckle slipped out. That was a bad move, as both Soichiro and Light set their glares onto him.

"Explain this!"

"You scumbag!"

" _Light_!"

Light glumly kept quiet but his livid gaze is still set onto L, while the detective looked back and forth between the father and son pair, slightly unnerved by the identical looks they were both sending him.

Everyone else kept staring and Matsuda took the opportunity to slip away and join the crowd.

"Now, perhaps we should keep calm and-"

"You're in a relationship with my son?!"

"-listen…" L turned to stare pointedly at Soichiro, who returned that with a glare.

"Dad!" Light protested, "We're not in a relationship!"

"That isn't what I'm hearing from Ryuuzaki!"

"He's being stupid."

"I'm not-"

"You're saying Ryuuzaki has a sense of humor?"

"-being stupid…" This time, L turned to stare pointedly at Aizawa, along with the two Yagamis.

"Uh," the man cleared his throat, "I apologize."

"Can you people stop interrupting me?" L questioned, visibly irritated.

"Not before you explain to me what the hell is going on around here?" Soichiro demanded, "What's with all this, 'Light is mad at me' and 'went a little too far that night'? _What on earth did you do_?"

"It is not what Yagami-san is alluding to," L said boredly, as if the older man is the lewd one here.

"He spiked my drink," Light accused immediately, pointing at L.

"That was for a good reason," L shot back.

"And _what the hell_ is the fucking reason?"

"Language, Light!"

The teen deflated but he kept his glare leveled at L.

"What did you spike my son with?" Soichiro demanded, looking ready to pounce on the detective.

"Drugs that induce sleeping."

"He has trouble sleeping?"

"According to my observations, he'd been sleeping less."

Soichiro glanced at his son in confusion, while Light was glaring at L for informing his father about it.

"You didn't tell me anything about that," Soichiro said, a stern look beginning to form on his features. Then he glanced at L and awkwardly asked, "Does he have anything to do with-"

"God, no, Dad," Light uttered, paling at the very thought of it.

"How flattering," L said as he pouted.

There was the sound of someone clearing the throat and the skirmish stopped immediately. Everyone in the room turned to look at the doorway, where Watari stood with his silver cart.

"Tea?"

Light turned to his father, "Dad, can we talk about this later?"

"Fine, alright," Soichiro said, returning to his seat. He gave one last accusatory look at L as he said, "Later."

Thus, the workroom retained its boring silence once again, mostly.

* * *

While they were returning to their room that night, Light didn't expect to be pulled off in a direction that is not the bedroom.

"Ryuuzaki," he stumbled after the other, "Where the hell are you taking me?"

"I've decided, we'll talk."

"I don't want to talk to you!"

L ignored his childish outburst and tugged harder on the chain, "Too bad, you're coming with me."

 _"_ _Ryuuzaki!"_

Against his will, Light was dragged to the elevator, taken to the highest floor that it could go and taken to the staircase. L made him climb up four flights of stairs. Light turned to read the sign and it wrote 'Roof Access'.

"Why're we going to the roof?" He asked.

"To stargaze," L said with a little smile.

Light shot him a look, "What? Are you fucking serious?"

"No," L deadpanned, the smile melting off his face as he continues to drag Light, "Besides, Tokyo is too brightly lit for us to see anything but satellites."

"I knew that," Light grumbled.

"Also," L said as he pushed the door open, "Be rest assured that I won't push you off the roof."

"Somehow that made me less sure of it," the teen argued, tugging the chain towards himself.

"Stop being so stubborn," L managed to pull him out the door, "You want to know why I gave you sleep-inducing drugs, don't you?"

Light gave him a calculating look, then silently let the other pull him towards the middle.

The roof was… well, the roof. Other than the gray-walled stairwell that they just came from, the roof was empty except for a couple of satellite dishes and an antenna behind and above the stairway. In front of them was an empty helipad, the outlines painted in white. The floor of the roof looked and felt like it was made of concrete. Around the border of the roof is a line of metal railings and near that is a angled grid that was the roof drain.

Beyond the railing, Light could see the Tokyo nightscape below him.

Intrigued, Light made his way towards the edge, sending L a look that dared him to try pushing him off. L merely raised his cuffed hand and seemed to have raised a brow though Light can't really tell because off all that hair (frankly, he didn't think he'd seen L's eyebrows before).

The brunette then settled by the railing, staring down at the city below him.

They were so high up that the people below looked like mere ants to him, their features entirely distinguishable except for the general color of their tops. That applies to the vehicles as well, the busy streets making them look like multi-colored insects while the buildings looked like toys made out of building blocks. The glow of the lights made the city look fictional.

Light felt a sense of satisfaction looking at life below, as well as a sense of insignificance. It was strange and he liked it. He also liked the cool night breeze that blew across the roof, unobstructed by anything since they were so high up.

He could feel L's gaze behind him and cast a glance backwards.

L slowly came over to stand beside him, his hands deep inside his pockets. While Light was leaning over the railing, the detective did not touch it.

"There was this person I once knew," L said, looking straight ahead of himself, "I suppose I could call him a friend but truthfully I never knew him that well."

"An acquaintance, then?"

He nodded, "There was only a handful of people on this world that have ever seen me, so this relation was as close as he could get."

The detective was silent for a while before he uttered, "I suppose that for this to make sense, that person was considered my student."

"Student?" Light questioned, "So he was learning to do the things you do?"

"To be a detective, yes," L said, "He aspired to be like me, L, and I shall not disclose his name so I'll call him 'A'."

"Very generic."

"Right, so A wanted to be like me. He was young and ambitious, he was intelligent as well, exceedingly so, almost on par with you and me. He was also a hardworking individual and there was a high possibility that he might succeed in his dreams."

"However," L said solemnly as he stared at the dark sky, "As he grew older, more were demanded of him. A's ambition was still the same but the pressure on him kept growing more and more, much more than he could handle. Eventually, he committed suicide."

Light stared at him as he continued, "He sliced himself in the arms, once across his wrist and another along his entire forearm, on both of them. By the time he was found, his body was already cold."

L kept staring straight ahead as he said, "The signs were right under my nose, the way he carried himself yet I have done nothing to prevent it. It was a terrible loss."

At that, L turned to face Light and with a serious look in his eyes, he uttered the words like an oath, "I will not allow something like that to happen ever again."

Light gaped at him while the detective turned away, "And that is my answer."

The teen took a breath and turned back to face the cityscape, floored by what L had just told him. He figured that suicide is a topic too serious for L to even lie or joke about and decided to believe his story, mostly.

The two stood in silence for a while, before Light asked, "Hey, Ryuuzaki."

"Hm?"

L's tone made Light dismiss the tiny percentage of his brain that said L was lying while he mentioned, "You said that person 'A' is an acquaintance and you were concerned enough about him to regret his death. If being an acquaintance was enough to make you try to intervene, that means that I am one as well?"

L stared at him in silence for a while, before muttering, "Yes, Light-kun is an acquaintance of mine… and more."

The detective gave a tiny smile and said, "Light-kun is a friend, or rather, my first ever friend."

"Wait, so you weren't kidding?"

"No."

"It wasn't a tactic to make me, as someone you suspected is Kira, to lower my guard so you could catch me or something?"

"No, Light-kun," L reiterated, "Am I really such a distrustful person?"

"I don't know, ask yourself that," Light rolled his eyes. "Also, did I exhibit suicidal tendencies or something to make you go that far?"

"Well, it was very similar to what A was doing before he died."

That made Light go silent and the two simply stared at the city below for a while.

"Hey Ryuuzaki."

"Yes?"

"You're a friend too."

Light flashed him a false smile as he added, "If only you weren't such an asshole."

"How nice," L said blandly, "So I suppose I am an almost-friend?"

"Probably."

"Wait, what does Light-kun mean?"

Light pushed off the railing and started to walk back towards the stairwell, "Let's go back inside, it's getting cold."

L stared at him, perplexed. He quickly followed the teen to avoid getting dragged off, "Light-kun, I demand to know your answer."

Light didn't reply him and made no mention of the almost-friend thing as a petty little payback over the next few weeks, resulting in a happy Light and an extremely frustrated L.

* * *

Edited: 21/12/2017


	7. Mysteries

Light stood in the middle of the strange city square, staring silently at the pale hand in front of him. His own hand hung in the air, frozen along with his indecision.

While they stood, world continued to revolve around them. Light could hear the humming and honking of vehicles on the road behind him. The path in front of him is still jam-packed with people, their figures flashing by in a blur, footsteps echoing off the concrete along with the rustling of clothes. Above him, the sun is still absent from the scene, the faint darkness igniting a chill in the air. Enveloped in the shadows of the clouds the large screens seemed to flare, switching between the news, the entertainment channel and advertisements.

"Well, what is your answer, Light?"

He raised his head, looking into the still-smiling face of the red-eyed man.

Light lowered his hand slowly.

"Let me think about it," he said.

Kira seemed surprised, then laughed, eyes gleaming in mirth, "Why the hesitation? The Light we know isn't a coward."

"Why 'we'?" Light noticed, "It doesn't make sense because what you said earlier is 'I am you', 'you are me' and 'we're the same'. What you're saying make it seem like we're not."

Kira let his hand drop and spoke with an air of nonchalance, "It's just a matter of speech."

"You know me," Light mentioned, "For some reason you resemble me and you know my habits and everything else about me." He set his eyes onto Kira and concluded, "You act like me, so that must mean I know you too."

"That certainly sounds like a possibility."

Caution found its way onto Light's features, "You're trying to trick me."

"Nonsense," Kira smiled and the brunette caught a subtle glow in his eyes. "What makes you think that?"

"Because I know myself," Light stated, continuing to study the other at the same time, "You try to soften me with words and spur me with what would set me off. It's basic manipulation."

"And what if what I said were to be true?"

Light went silent for a bit, considering that factor before saying flatly, "I don't trust you."

"Then what shall I do to gain your trust?"

Light noticed the attempt to steer away from the main issue and demanded, "What are you?"

"Whatever do you mean, Light?"

"Shut up," He growled, "If you're trying to trick me, then you're not me and if I were you, there would not be any gaps in my memories!"

"So you've noticed," Kira smiled as he tilted his head.

" _Kira_."

"I don't know, perhaps I might be your other self," he challenged, "You learnt that in psychology, didn't you?"

"I do not have dissociative personality disorder," Light emphasized almost angrily, "If I do, I won't be talking to you like this and if I do, we would not have the exact same behaviors."

"You wouldn't know," Kira said with a shrug, "Perhaps you belong to the category called 'the insane' and I am just a vision you have conjured up." He gave Light a serious look, "Or I am making you believe that we're the same."

Light's eyes narrowed, scrutinizing him for a moment before he pointed out, "You speak in circles."

"Not unlike what you do when you're pulling the strings, huh," Kira stated, realizing that Light had indeed caught onto him.

"What are you?" Light demanded, "If you're not a personality split off from me then what the hell are you?"

" _Light-kun."_

The teen started, looking about as he looked for the source of the annoyingly familiar voice but not seeing anyone around him other than Kira and the throng of unidentifiable people in front of him that began to look really strange.

"W-what the hell?" Light blurted, taking a step back as the scene began to twist and melt before his very eyes, the edges of his vision dissipating into the darkness while he stared in alarm. The buildings looked like they were physically bent and warped as they dissolved into black along with the sky, the cars, the road and even the people.

" _Light-kun_ ," the call was a little more insistent and Light looked around for the detective while the world began to crumble before him.

The darkness squeezed ever closer and Light stared in horror Kira's body began to twist into an unrecognizable shape. He silently hoped that it was merely due to his vision and not actually happening to the other, as undesirable as he is.

Even in the distortion, Light could still sense the other's grin as Kira gleefully stated, "Until next time, Light."

And he disappeared, swallowed up by the darkness along with everything else.

"Light-kun."

Light wearily cracked open an eye, strangely unsurprised to find the pale detective leaning over him, his large black eyes boring into his skull. The white image of the detective burned even more into his brain as his face was illuminated by the moonlight, causing him to look even more ghostlike than usual.

As a deterrence to that 'ghost', Light reached out and shoved his hand in L's face to push him away.

The 'ghost' gave a muffled protest while the teen rubbed his own face, trying to regain his bearings. He felt as if his mind is trapped in his body that seemed too sluggish. His dream was much too vivid and much too real that it took Light a few moments to absorb the fact that he is in the Taskforce building, trapped in L's bedroom.

"I see Light-kun is awake," L said cheerfully, as though he's unaware that Light had abused his face just a second ago.

"What time is it?" He asked, reality taking a while to sink in.

"Three-fifty," L answered, "I woke you up so that I could acquire some cake."

The teen silently sat up and rubbed his eyes.

While he did that, L shuffled over to perch beside him, shifting his face an inch away from the other's to study him.

"Light-kun seemed uncharacteristically calm," he commented as he tilted his head.

 _SMACK!_

The detective was sprawled across the bed in the blink of an eye. Light stared down at him, his arm stretched out and his hand clenched into a fist. As expressionless as he looked, it wasn't hard to miss the twitch in his eye.

"You happy now?"

"That was uncalled for," L said as he sat up, ignoring the throb in his cheek.

"You were way too close," Light growled, "And why the hell did you wake me up in the middle of the night for such _a stupid thing_!"

A faint glare took hold of the detective's face.

 _WHAM!_

* * *

The next day found Light sitting sullenly at his desk, nursing the bruise on his cheek.

Looking back at it, he did come to the realization that he pretty much asked for it by punching L in the face and not expecting the other to return the favor. That, and calling his snacks a 'stupid thing' because as chilled and ridiculous as L always seemed to be, Light had momentarily forgotten that the only things that L had ever been seriously dedicated to are his sugar and sugar cravings.

On one hand, he could use the excuse that he was really tired from the lack of sleep such that his normal brain function has been impeded (as L had annoyingly pointed out as a warning once). On the other, he happened to be very concerned about his latest dream.

So that worry had found him in the workroom the next few days, hooked up to his machine not for the purpose of finding more information about the Yotsuba Corporation but something else.

Anyone who looked at the tabs on his screen would be seriously concerned about the names of the websites and articles he has up.

'Demonic possessions', 'Exorcism', 'Serious cases of personality disorders', 'Recurring nightmare', these combination of titles made the horror of the Kira Case pale in comparison. Although if anyone were to look at his screen, they would probably think that he'd finally gone off his rocker.

That might be reasonable enough, seeing that he have a sugar demon accompanying him all day and all night such that the incurable crazy has rubbed off onto him.

While Light skimmed through a site that talks about various type of demons and what they want from the beings in the mortal realm, he had apparently missed the chair beside him slowly rolling closer without a sound and a certain annoying person had leaned over his shoulder, staring intently at his screen.

He'd realized that too late when a really loud, obnoxious voice rang by his ear.

"Is that PORN?"

The shock was so great that Light almost had a non-Kira related heart attack.

He shut off the monitor immediately as a reflex and realized that it was an extremely bad idea as it gave L's words more credibility, the stupid oaf had been loud enough to alert the whole room, evident from the four pairs of eyes now staring at the both of them.

Light stared back at them, especially the one he calls 'Dad', who's looking back at him in complete shock and the beginnings of disappointment.

"It wasn't-"

"Then would Light-kun care to explain why you turned that off?" L, the incarnation of devil himself challenged.

It was safe to say that Light experienced the most awkward silence of all awkward silences in his life. He wasn't too happy to find that Matsuda's face had turned bright red.

"Wow, Light," the bachelor commented, sounding perturbed and mildly impressed. "I didn't know you had that in you."

Soichiro turned to glare at him.

Light lowered his head.

"Oh, is Light-kun ashamed?" L questioned 'sympathetically', fiddling with his lip, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that out loud."

"You…"

"Hm?"

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

The others were startled at the sudden yell, staring agape as the teen bodily attacked the detective, sending the both of them crashing to the ground in a flurry of fervent growls and punches.

"Godammit," Aizawa groaned in exasperation.

Light managed to gain the upper hand as he pinned L to the ground, throwing punches in his face with unbridled fury. His attacks are only halted when L's foot slammed into chest, sending the brunette tumbling off of him.

That was when Soichiro and Matsuda had thought to intervene, when Light scrambled towards the other with a frightful snarl.

"Stop it this instance!"

Unexpectedly, the teen ignored the command of his father and pounced upon the detective, looking like he was determined to strangle the hell out of him once and for all.

At that moment, the door hissed open, revealing the figures of Watari and Misa.

The blonde had looked bubbly and thrilled upon the prospect of finally seeing her boyfriend again, right until the moment she set her eyes upon the ruckus in the middle of the room.

"What is Ryuuzaki doing to Misa's Light!" She exclaimed, her shrill voice distracted Light from slamming his fist into the detective's nose, where L used that opportunity to plough both his feet into the teen's face.

"Light!"

It took a while but they finally managed to extract the two off of each other, now covered in fresh bruises and bumps from their latest scuffle. Soichiro stood over them with a stern look that would make a lion cower in fear, while Light and L looked anywhere but at each other and the man himself.

Misa looked on at them (well, just Light) in worry and turned to Matsuda who stood beside her.

"Um, what happened?" She asked.

Matsuda gaped at her anxiously and muttered, "W-well, I think Ryuuzaki was kind of mad at Light."

The model looked confused, "Huh?"

Matsuda glanced at the two and cupped a hand to whisper, "Ryuuzaki was mad because he was looking at- um, uh…"

"Looking at what? What was he looking at?"

His next word was barely audible, Matsuda was blushing as he uttered, "P-P-Porn…?"

"WHAT?!"

That attracted Light's attention, he turned to glance at them, immediately put two and two together and leveled a glare at tattletale.

The bachelor felt it and turned to him timidly, shivering under the intense wave of anger like a rabbit in the headlights.

L was silently chewing on his thumb for the longest moment before pointing the other one at the brunette, "He started it."

" _Ryuuzaki_ …" Light's head snapped back to L as he gritted his teeth, looking ready to have another go at him.

"Light!" Soichiro barked and he shrunk back in what seems to be shame.

Meanwhile out of earshot of the three, Misa emitted a gasp of disbelief, "Light looks at those- those _dirty things?_ "

"Uh…"

She ignored Matsuda's attempt to intervene and sobbed, "But- but, isn't Misa enough? He doesn't need to look at those, Misa is ready if he wants to see…"

The bachelor turned beet red.

"…to touch…"

He choked.

She set her tear-filled gaze upon Light as if in appeal, "Misa belongs to Light, he can do anything to Misa!"

Aizawa stared at her and cleared his throat, "Um, I think you should leave."

"Light can only look at Misa alone!" The model suddenly gasped, as if coming to a realization, "Wait, Misa thinks she figured it out!"

She pointed angrily at L, "This must be Ryuuzaki's fault, he's after Misa's Light and is trying to turn Light away from Misa by using such dirty tricks!"

The detective looked at her in utter boredom but didn't bother to contradict her statement while Light stared at her in confusion.

"Misa-"

" _Stinky-zaki_! You think that Misa won't be able to tell, it was because no one wants your ugly mug," Misa accused, "Misa's Light is trapped with him day and night who knows what he's thinking of doing!"

"Misa-"

"Maybe he did it already, because Misa isn't here to protect her Light!"

"Misa-"

" _His innocence!"_ She cried dramatically.

Mogi spluttered, his stoic image beginning to crack as a hint of amusement began to crept onto his features. Not wanting to attract anyone's attention, he lowered his head and covered his mouth, hiding the slight smile with his hand.

However, it wasn't difficult to miss the faint trembling of his shoulders and luckily for him, they were preoccupied with the main spectacle in the middle of the room.

"Misa!"

Misa gaped at Light for shouting and sobbed, "Now Light's mad at Misa!"

"What the hell is going on," Aizawa grumbled, looking like he's done with it all.

"Misa, don't being ridiculous," Light exclaimed, looking disturbed, "Nothing of that sort happened!"

"Then why is Light looking at the dirty things?"

" _I was not!"_

Soichiro turned to L with a dark scowl. He noticed and looked up for a long moment before finally relenting, "He was not."

"See," Light soothed, "I didn't look at any of those, I only have eyes for you."

L gave him a sidelong glance at that moment, taking the opportunity to observe him.

"R-really?" She blurted.

"Yes, really," he said.

"Light-kun says that but he has not moved from the couch at all."

There was a pause, before Light turned to glare at him, "That's because of the stupid chain, you moron."

The detective gave him a scrutinizing gaze, "Hm, really?"

Light glared at him and was about to utter something particularly nasty at L when there was a shrill ringing.

They turned to the source of it, where Misa jumped as if suddenly realizing, "Oh, that's Misa's!"

She fished out her pink cellphone, decorated with all sorts of trinkets hanging from it and answered in a high-pitched cutesy voice, "Hello, Misa Misa here!"

They watched as she talk on the phone for a brief moment. Misa hung up with a loud 'bye' and replaced the phone in her pocket, "Misa has a rehearsal in thirty minutes, so Misa will be leaving."

She looked over at Light with a solemn expression and pounced on him suddenly, settling in his lap while the teen emitted a painful sounding 'oof'. He tentatively hugged her back.

"Misa will miss Light."

"I'll miss you too," he mumbled.

Aizawa rolled his eyes at the display, while L was the only one who blatantly stared at them.

"Bye, Light." She kissed him on the cheek once and left the room with Watari.

L studied at the unfortunate soul chained to him, "That was very unenthusiastic on your part."

"Shut up," Light snapped, "What do you know?"

A crooked half-smile appeared on his face, "More than you think, Light-kun."

Soichiro glared down at the both of them, "We'll have a talk."

"Yag-"

" _Now_ , Ryuuzaki."

"Right," he mumbled.

"With my son."

"Alright."

"Alone."

"Fine," L said, "We'll move to another room."

" _Alone_ , Ryuuzaki," Soichiro stressed, "My word is final."

"Fine," The detective peered up at him, "I'm only doing this out of respect for you, Yagami-san."

L stood up, dug inside his pocket for the key and unlocked the cuff on Light's end. The teen rubbed his wrist, the skin beginning to bear marks from being trapped in the confines of the metal for so long.

"You can use the interrogation room, it's just down the hall to the left," he added, "The cameras and microphone will be left on, however."

Soichiro glowered at him.

"It's for security reasons, of course." L explained, "Your son is still under suspicion therefore I have to continue to watch him even when he is not by my side."

"Fine," he said huffily, "I'll just accept that."

Soichiro then proceeded to leave with his son to the designated room.

* * *

Light followed his father into the room, where he closes the door behind him.

They were in a room with white walls and a gray floor, it was bare except for a metal table, chairs and a single lamp that was turned off. The two father and son chose not to sit and instead stood by the door, where Light resisted the urge to fidget.

"Son," Soichiro grumbled, "I want you to answer me honestly."

Light felt like escaping the room, he'd never been caught in this sort of situation ever since that time he'd pulled Sayu's hair when he was six. He steeled his nerves, preparing for whatever lecture/scolding his father is going to give him next.

"What exactly is your relationship with Ryuuzaki?"

Light blinked, "What?"

Soichiro looked troubled, "I mean, are you in any sort of, um, uh, indecent relationship with him?"

All of Light's brain activities came to an abrupt standstill, " _Indecent_?"

"You need to tell me, son," he continued, "Is he forcing you? What exactly is he doing to you? You're still a minor, we can press charges-"

"Dad, no," Light said in a hurry, "That's not it, it's all a misunderstanding!"

Soichiro gave him a skeptical look, "But you've been strange, lately."

"It has nothing to do with him," Light said, trailing off to give his father the image of shame and sincerity, "I was just tired, that's all and there's the confinement. I was also stuck in the buildings since July so I just felt a little cooped up. I'm sorry if my behavior has been disruptive lately."

"Okay…" Soichiro didn't look convinced, "So you don't have feelings for him?"

"I already have Misa, Dad," Light said firmly, feeling nauseous at the thought.

Soichiro gave him a long look and finally accepted that, "Then what about Ryuuzaki?"

"Oh, no, he hasn't done anything weird," Light confirmed. 'Other than annoying the hell out of me,' he silently added.

"So what he has been doing, there's no meaning behind it?"

"I don't think so…" Light uttered, "Ryuuzaki is a recluse after all, so he probably doesn't behave normally like other people."

Soichiro nodded, "That's a relief, from how it looks it seems like he's flirting with you."

"Flirting?" Light looked puzzled, "I don't understand."

"Teasing you," Soichiro explained, "Playing harmless pranks and he was only targeting you alone, he wasn't interested in anyone else so that made me worry."

"Maybe that's Ryuuzaki's way of socializing," Light reasoned, "He did say that I was his first and only friend before."

On the contrary, Light began to think otherwise.

Soichiro nodded, "Yes, that sounds reasonable. That's much better."

* * *

At the same moment, L sat nibbling on his thumb in frustration.

"The audio isn't on," he muttered irritably as he watched the footage from the interrogation room.

Light's face was just out of sight as well, his father is covering it so he can't read the teen's lips or see his expression, just Soichiro's, which doesn't give him much regarding Light's replies.

The detective sat twirling about in his chair while he waited for the two to return, his wrist is still trapped within the cuff, so the chain is dragging about on the floor and making clacking noises.

It wasn't long before Matsuda approached him.

L stopped and peered up at him, "Yes?"

"Uh, are you two okay?"

"Certainly," the detective answered, "Why did you ask?"

"You guys just seem to quarrel a lot," Matsuda said, "And Light-kun does have Misa-chan as his official girlfriend."

L stared at him in mild confusion (that means he's very confused) but waited for him to continue.

"It doesn't seem like a healthy relationship."

Oh.

"We're not in a relationship," L answered blandly.

Matsuda looked surprised, "Wait, huh, what? Oh, I know! You guys are only doing it!"

Aizawa glanced over at the shout, saw what was going on, rolled his eyes and went back to work. Unlike him, Mogi continued to watch.

"Doing what?" The detective asked seriously.

"Doing- uh, um…" Matsuda looked flustered, then whispered, "Well… being fuck buddies."

"What is a fuck buddy?"

As a response to that, Matsuda gave a shriek and frantically shushed him, while L kept staring at him in confusion.

"Like, uh, having s-s-sex with him but just remaining friends."

L then gave him a look as if he's being a nuisance, "I did not have sex with Light-kun nor am I in a relationship with him."

Matsuda stared at him, "Wait, are you serious? You guys aren't dating?"

L shot him the blankest stare he could muster and said in a weary voice to make it as clear as possible, "No, Matsuda-san, we're not dating nor are we fuck buddies of any sort."

The detective swore Matsuda actually looked disappointed at that and said in an equally flat tone, "Now please get back to work."

The bachelor turned and obediently made his way back to the desk in silence, passed Mogi who pretended he hadn't been listening in to the conversation.

It wasn't too long before the door to the workroom opened, revealing the father and son pair who returned to their seats in silence.

Light glared at L once and held out his left hand.

L replaced the cuff in silence and it was like nothing ever happened that afternoon, save for a couple of bruises on both of them.

* * *

"Bye, guys!" Matsuda said happily as he grabbed his coat and left.

The two genii who are now left alone again did not acknowledge him, absorbed in both of their screens.

Well, not really.

Ever since Light had returned from the interrogation room, his mind had been plagued with thoughts, strange thoughts that involved the possibility of L flirting with him. He had never thought of it that way and only dismissed it as the detective being out to torment him with his lunacy until his father had pointed it out.

It can't possibly be but there's no other explanation for it other than the fact that he's a recluse who sucks at being friendly or he's just playing around and thoroughly enjoying it.

Light can't wrap his mind around the thought that L might even like anyone romantically, as he seemed way too blunt and emotionally obtuse for that.

He glanced over at L who's been staring at the same screen for five minutes and definitely not registering what he's seeing, which could most likely mean that he's busy thinking about cake and all that horrendously sweet stuff.

Light told himself again that there's no way but he needs something to back it up.

He psyched himself up for this one, which is appearing as friendly and harmless to the sugar fiend, "Hey, Ryuuzaki."

L blinked and turned to him, "Yes?"

"Hold out your hand."

L simply stared at him, Light caught a hint of suspicion in his features, "What is it?"

"Shut up and give me your hand."

"I see no beneficial reason in doing that."

Light glared, "Just do it."

L gave him a skeptical look and eventually obliged.

Light took it in hand, noting that L's hand is cool and dry and not disgusting and sticky like he'd expected it to be. The teen let it hang for a while, focusing on the detective's reaction and not the fact that's he's holding a dude's hand like he would a girl.

L stared back at him for a long moment, "What is Light-kun doing?"

"Observing."

Light noted that the detective sounded awkward, like he wasn't too happy and was perplexed with what they're doing.

"If you're done observing…"

He nodded in satisfaction, releasing L's hand and concluding that there's no way that the detective had ever had a crush on him.

"Thanks," he said and calmly went back to work.

There was a long pause where he was stared at.

"What was Light-kun observing?" L asked curiously.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"It sounds like something I should be worried about."

Light ignored him as he was too busy feeling thrilled that L isn't in any way infatuated in him. And neither was he, so all was fine. Now all he has to do is to figure out how to get rid of the thing in his dreams and solve the murders that is still happening out there.

Now he wasn't feeling too thrilled about that.

* * *

After Light went to bed that night, L sat beside him in the dark, staring at his hand.

He studied his palm, then turned to look at the back, wondering what it was that Light was trying to do. No one has held his hand before, other than Watari when he was younger. Somehow, it didn't feel the same. With Watari's it had been warm but having Light hold his hand, it was warm and fuzzy.

He couldn't figure out the fuzzy.

The detective turned to look at Light.

He'd never felt so confused in his life.


	8. Darkness

Light sat at his desk and stared at the thin black book. He still couldn't figure out the mystery behind it, where it came from, why is it in his room and most importantly, why he couldn't read a single word that is written in the notebook.

It was unnerving, as no matter how many pages he had flipped through, it was full of indiscernible scribbles and markings, like words that are too far away to be made out. Light had thought it was just that at first but he couldn't be sure, so he had Sayu read one of the lines for him.

'Yamaguchi Nobuya,' she read, then asked why Light had her read it for him.

He made an excuse about testing her ability to read names.

As it turns out, the page only contained names.

And he still couldn't see any of them.

After his comment, Sayu complained that he's lame and left before he could get her to read anything else. So here he is, sitting in his room and trying to understand this weird occurrence.

It got nowhere, so Light switched on his PC and went to search for the name 'Yamaguchi Nobuya'. About a million results are spat back out at him, with at least seven social media links for the name and twenty more for an artist with that name. He wondered if that was it, the name that Sayu read out was the name of an artist.

Somehow, his gut feeling thought that wasn't it but he couldn't know unless he got the rest of the names in the book.

Light clicked to go to the next page and scrolled down, just as he heard his mother call him for dinner.

"Coming!" He replied and promptly left the room, closing the door behind him.

On the screen, the last link read 'Murderer Yamaguchi Nobuya Dies from Heart Attack'.

* * *

"What are you doing cooped up in your room?" His mother asked as soon as he appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I was studying," Light said.

"Huh?" Sayu uttered as she fixed an incredulous look upon him, "But it's going to be summer break soon!"

"I was just reviewing some materials before the holiday starts, so I don't forget," Light said in his own defense as he walked down the stairs, cursing himself when he realized he'd forgotten what the date is. Well, at least it puts him in a better light in front of his family.

"Okay, Mr. Hardworking," Sayu rolled her eyes, her face brightened, "Oh, guess what, Dad came home!"

"Really?" He smiled.

"He's in the kitchen," Sachiko informed, "I'll get the fish so we can all start eating."

As she left, Sayu took the opportunity to jab him in his side.

"Ow, Sayu!"

She giggled as Light raced after her for revenge.

When he entered the kitchen and saw who was sitting at the table, he stopped.

Sayu, who was prepared to keep running for her life was puzzled when she saw her brother just standing at the threshold.

"Nii-chan, what's wrong?"

Light kept staring, because the person sitting at the dinner table was not their father.

It was Kira.

The red-haired man stared back at him and flashed a smirk right back at him.

"Light?"

Light snapped out of it and turned to regard his mother, who was looking back at him with a concerned expression on her face.

He turned to Kira, who still has the same expression on his face. It was then that he realized that none of his family members are able to see him. He started to wonder where his father actually is but said nothing of that matter.

"It's nothing…" He muttered and went to take a seat across Kira, where he usually faced his father and feigned an air of normalcy. "Let's eat."

"Let's," Kira said in a pleasant imitation of his voice, his lips curling even more in amusement as the mother and daughter pair joined them, the perplexed expression remained at Light's earlier reaction.

* * *

Sayu turned the television on during dinner, staring at the screen while she ate.

It was some sappy drama with Hideki Ryuga, as usual.

This time, instead of chiding her for watching TV while she's eating, Light simply stared at Kira, who ate dinner as if nothing was wrong. It irked him, as the red-haired man who had no place in his house acted perfectly at home within it.

Light was even more unsettled as this imitation of himself copied everything he did perfectly.

He held his chopsticks casually but firmly, his first chopstick, the one above, held securely between his index, middle finger and thumb and moved only by his first two fingers. His second chopstick is held between his thumb and his palm, still throughout the entire time he used it.

Light noticed that because he himself had researched it, the correct way to hold chopsticks and he had trained himself to hold it properly and perfectly since he was young.

It was even more obvious when Kira is next to Sayu, where she held the chopsticks loosely and her thumb incorrectly followed its movements.

Kira picked out the fish bones daintily, he picked up the bowl whenever he was going to take a few bites of his rice and put it down whenever he picked something from the side dishes. He had a particular way of going about picking food from the sides, first he had some from the plate of stir-fried vegetables, then had some grilled teriyaki chicken, stewed fish, steamed eggs that Sachiko had portioned out for everyone, he ended it off with a sip of miso soup, holding it with both of his hands and tipping it back to meet his lips. He then proceeded to have the sides starting again from the vegetables, continuing in a cycle and alternated his sides with rice.

It was a perfect echo of how Light would eat his dinner.

He set down his chopsticks, having lost his appetite.

Kira noticed it and smiled, "What's wrong, Light?"

Light stared at him, schooled his expression to show nothing as he glanced at his mother and Sayu.

"Feel free to speak to me," Kira said, munching on some chicken, "They won't notice a thing."

Light eyed him cautiously, trying to discern whether the red-eyed man was tricking him.

Finally, he demanded, "Why are you here?"

They didn't react to his statement and simply continued eating and watching TV.

"I did promise you that we'll meet again," Kira said.

"Why are you in my house?" Light asked unhappily.

Kira shrugged, "What can I do? You happen to be dreaming of this place."

Light glared at him sullenly.

"Have you perhaps figure out what I am?"

The teen kept staring as he drank more soup, "Are you a demon?"

Kira chuckled and set down his bowl. His eyes flashed red, "I'm afraid I can't answer that."

His hands clenched into fists, about to attack the strange man when he said, "Because I don't even know what I am."

"What?"

Kira sighed and seemed almost solemn as he stated, "I am neither a demon nor a spirit, nor am I something split off from you, Light. I simply, exist."

Light hesitated, watching him carefully for any signs of deceit.

There was none, and he didn't know what to do with this information.

"What do you want?"

Kira set his chopsticks down and looked right back at him.

"A purpose."

Light found that idea absurd, "You want me to give you a purpose?"

"You've already given me, back then."

The brunette stared at him in confusion and thought through all the possibilities where he could've even done in the first place.

"Wait, you don't mean-" Light gaped at him, horrified as he whispered, "I'm the one who made you Kira?"

"That's exactly what you did," Kira informed, as the teen leaned back, away from his own creation, "You brought me into existence, you gave me a purpose, one which is to cleanse this world and make it safe for the innocents again, for them."

Kira gestured to his oblivious mother and sister, who are staring at the screen as Hideki finally confesses his true feelings.

Light's gaze was directed to the two, as Kira affirmed, "You did it for them, and for Father too."

The teen watched as Sayu shrieked as Hideki kisses the girl, and their mother lecturing her about squealing in the middle of dinner. He watched as she sheepishly apologized and caught him staring. She smiled, and Light felt convinced.

Kira seemed to feel the shift as well and continued, "So I don't see a reason why we shouldn't work together."

Light turned to face Kira, his eyes hazy.

"Join me, Light," a dark smile began to creep onto his face, as he coaxed, "Join me and we can make this happen."

"I-" Light looked confused.

"Say yes," his red eyes flashed as he urged.

"Ye…" Light's eyes cleared up as he shook his head. He looked at Kira and said, "Sorry, I don't think I can do that."

Kira's posture stiffened, "Why not?"

"I can't kill people," Light said firmly, "It doesn't matter if they're good or bad, killing is wrong."

"You gave me that purpose before."

"I might've," Light muttered, "And I can't change what I've done."

Kira took on a soft, accommodating tone, "Why don't we finish it, since you've already done it?"

"No," Light glared, "I will not let the murders continue."

Kira's expression turned cold. Light noticed a pale hand moving to brush his hair back, his gesture of annoyance.

"You know the justice system is null," Kira began.

"No, it isn't," Light snapped, "Not completely."

"What do you mean?"

Light hesitated, "There's L."

Kira snorted, "You don't actually believe that he is upholding justice because he truly believes in it."

"It may not be the case," Light glowered at Kira for laughing at him, "But I'm working with him, I'll be able to make a difference this time."

"Yeah?" Kira challenged, "And what happens when 'Kira' is finally brought to justice? Will you be able to continue to work by his side, or uphold the justice that you're so devoted to?"

"That's…" Light trailed off.

"There's no way around it," Kira said grimly and stood up, "Think about it, I'll come for your answer another time."

Just like that, the red-haired man disappeared into the blackness, along with everything else.

Light opened his eyes to the darkened sight of the ceiling, disorientated by his vivid dream. He sat up, feeling strangely alert and tired at the same time. The eighteen-year-old was puzzled to find no disturbances and turned to face the detective who lay next to him, fast asleep.

L was curled up on his side, mimicking his crouch whenever he sits.

Until now, Light wasn't sure whether he had become the greatest detective because he truly believed in justice, or did it because he was bored. He believed more in the latter, because there was a point in time that he stopped believing in justice, because of everything that was wrong around him and there was nothing he could do about them.

But L, he brought a difference. He is able to change what is wrong with the world and if Light were to work with him on that, the world will change for the better.

However, to truly uphold justice, once they find the evidence for it, Light will have to be imprisoned, maybe given the death sentence.

Because he was Kira.

And past actions that he had no knowledge of, no matter what reason caused it, is no excuse for the murder of many, convicts or not.

At that moment, Light thought the idea of justice is a terrible thing indeed.

He decided, he would do as much as he could for this case before the truth is uncovered.

As much as he could.

* * *

L said at his desk the next day, doing nothing but eating and thinking.

It was a slice of strawberry cake, consisting of layers of light, fluffy sponge cake, thick and creamy strawberry cream that has the hint of a soft sweetness that strawberries of premium quality has, filled with slices of fragrant strawberries, thick vanilla cream, topped with more strawberries and chunk of white chocolate that are placed precariously on the cake, the decorations themselves are of similar height to the cake itself.

L barely noticed the taste as he observed that Light is no longer looking at strange websites looking to exorcise demons, or seeming to be deeply concerned about something that his eyebrows were severely scrunched up.

He was absorbed in the Yotsuba Case, digging and scrutinizing every source he could find on every of the influential Yotsuba Corp. members that told of their background and their personalities. Currently, he's mainly on the fifth person, Shingo Mido, building his profile and adding on more information that he'd found on the other members.

The others are partly on the same task, as well as creating the list of convicts who had died via heart attack and others who are likely killed by Kira, and monitoring Yotsuba's activities and compiling various statistics that had to do with their corporation.

As for L, he's mainly thinking about what happened yesterday.

He took another saccharine sweet bite out of the cake, still wondering what it was that he felt when Light was holding his hand.

It reminded him of Watari holding his hand when he was still a child, lost and having nowhere else to go. Watari was the one who gave him a place to call home, that day when they both stood in front of the building with the tall gates made of wrought iron.

Everyone he ever knew was gone and he was all alone, until Watari came forward and took him in. He wasn't really happy about it in the beginning.

But when the older man took his hand and brought him to his new home, it sparked a warmth in his cold chest.

This felt different.

L had never held anyone's hands for over a decade and a half after that. He had virtually no contact with anyone else and no one had touched him, out of either respect or fear. The direct skin contact was strange and unnerving and the feeling that came from it was even stranger.

A warm fuzziness.

L thought that it might have something to do with his experience of prolonged lack of skin contact, there is a thing about it being important for people.

Sure, there are instances where they accidentally brush against each other because of the close proximity between them caused by the use of the chain. They are different, though, because holding hands was direct and intentional on their part.

L also wondered whether it had something to do with Light being his first and only friend, that it would make him feel something from touch.

Still, it felt too strange for the reason to remain just that.

L turned to Light, who remain oblivious of his surrounding as he rapidly scanned through the articles, picking out information and transferring them into his documents.

It looked as if he was racing against time.

And L tried to figure out what on earth his 'observation' was supposed to be about.

L thought back to his basic education about human psychology and communication.

The purpose of physical contact in body languages is to reveal positive intentions and establish intimacy and trust.

In the case with Watari, it was to show support, guidance and authority. L was a mere child that time, alone and lost and Watari was the one who took him in. He was established as a guardian and a father figure, supporting L in his time of lost and allow him to build his confidence in the older man as someone who would take care and protect him.

That purpose is definitely not the case with Light.

Holding hands to show respect and friendship, as prevalent in Arab, some African and Asian cultures seemed out of the question, as Japanese are not known for holding hands for that function.

There remained the last possibility: romance and affection.

L found it a little hard to wrap around his mind that Light would have such an intention, the teen had strongly indicated that he was adverse against a romantic relationship of any kind with the detective and Light had a complete lack of reaction to that incident, other than a sort of satisfaction that came with the results.

It was when L was beginning to figure it out.

Judging from the complete lack of emotion and reaction, and the clinical tone and approach he had towards the contact.

Wasn't it an experiment? About what?

L thought back to their recent interactions before that occurrence and finally came to a conclusion.

Light was testing whether he had any romantic feelings towards him and he was satisfied that he got nothing, that was exactly because L had nothing.

That gave him a new question, what did he do that Light had to test that to see for himself?

L glanced at the teen, trying to puzzle it out.

He gave up a few minutes later and went back to eating his cake.

* * *

It was dinner time when Light announced that he had finished his profiling on the Yotsuba Group.

He sat, facing the room in his chair while they looked at him for what he might've found. L was just licking the last of the cream smeared on the fork.

"After looking through the records and information of the Yotsuba members, the most likely candidate to be Kira is... inconclusive."

There was a sense of disappointment in the air, not against Light but against the situation itself. Still, Light could not help but feel bad that they didn't manage to get anywhere even after all the work.

"There are some individuals who are more suspicious than the others, though," he informed, turning to his laptop that is currently connected to the large screen in the center.

"There are eight members in total. First, we have Kyosuke Higuchi, who is the head of Technology Development. From the reports, he generally seemed to be a greedy man who cares only about himself. Next is Shingo Mido, the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and the Director of Financial Planning, it was mentioned somewhere that he dislikes financing, despite his position in the group."

Light pressed the left button on his keyboard and another picture appeared, "This is Suguru Shimura, the Head of Personnel, he was stated to be a paranoid man, which is a quality that Kira has, and it also coincides with his current activities. Next is Arayoshi Hatori, who is the Vice President of Marketing. He is the illegitimate son of the company president. If he is Kira, his motivation might be creating chances to prove himself to the president."

"There are also others within the company who has the potential to be Kira, currently, these are the most suspicious. However we also can't dismiss that fact that people who are the least likely to be him could be Kira," Light turned back to his laptop, "I'll send the files to your accounts for reference."

"Thank you, Light-kun," L said, "We shall continue to monitor their activities, as well as Kira's killings."

To his right, Light shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly, L mentioned nothing about that as he continued, "So there's nothing to do for now but to wait and see."

"Are you just going to watch while the death count rises?"

L turned to face Soichiro and caught the stern look on his face.

Perhaps that is the reason why Light seemed upset, Soichiro was the one who taught him about this after all, judging from his admonishes whenever his son did something wrong.

That might be something worth considering, he thought.

"Not entirely," L admitted, "I'm working on it, it might take a while."

The older man didn't look satisfied but it was enough to keep him from badgering L until he does something about it immediately.

"So there's nothing to do until then?" Matsuda questioned.

"No, there is," Aizawa grumbled, "Read your report for god's sake."

"Okay…" he muttered, "But what about after we're done?"

"Then think of a solution!"

"What if we can't think of a solution?"

"Whatever, go eat your dinner if you have nothing useful to add!"

"Okay."

With that, the bachelor happily left the room while Aizawa began his work.

A few moments later, he stopped, "Wait, did Matsuda just manipulated me into giving him a break?"

"That appeared to be the case," L said, staring at his empty plate.

"That _idiot Matsuda_?" Aizawa was dumbfounded, "I can't believe it."

"Perhaps Aizawa-san needed a break too."

The older man went silent, he looked conflicted as he stared at the stack of papers in his hands.

"In the meantime," L turned to face Light, who looked back at him quizzically, "Is Light-kun interested in a game of chess?"

* * *

"Checkmate."

Light stared at the chessboard incredulously, his pieces all trapped with nowhere to go.

Five moves. Damned L bested him in only five moves, what the hell?

The brunette gaped at him, his expression slowly turning into a glower as he realized that the bastard had tricked him. L had let him win the first round by a small margin and neither of them were playing seriously. He led him to think that it was going to be the standard, the bait that he loosely constructed.

"Wow, that was quick!"

Light suppressed a growl at Matsuda's voice, blaming L for making him suffer this humiliation.

"Would Light-kun like a rematch?" L asked innocently.

He was being taunted, that statement was another attempt to bait him.

To what? Play seriously?

"I don't mind if Light-kun decides to call it a day," L said pityingly, "I understand if he couldn't handle it."

Light's eye twitched in annoyance.

 _Who the hell do you think you're talking to?_

"We'll go another round," Light smiled, "After all, it's only a game, there's no need to take it seriously."

I'm going to crush you, he thought.

"My thoughts exactly," L let a tiny smile show, it was one of amusement, "I'll go easy on you, Light-kun."

The teen quelled the urge to whack him hard across the face just once, "Well, what are you waiting for, Ryuuzaki? Set up the board."

He noticed a faint curling of his toes, before L silently set the pieces back into place.

Then he thought, he might have found another game to play.

Light shifted so that his posture was directed at L, his elbows resting on his thighs, his fingers interlocked, sending a signal to get his opponent engaged. He smiled, "How about we make it more interesting, Ryuuzaki?"

L looked up at him, "What do you propose?"

"A penalty," Light said, "We'll do a best out of five, loser will have to do whatever the winner tells them for three days."

The detective thought about it, "On one condition, Light-kun will not give me an order that will force me to reveal my identity or anything associated with it in any way."

"Deal."

L set the last piece into place, "Let us begin, I'll let you be white."

Light smiled to hide the irritation on his face, "I'll make you regret that decision."

"Go on," L taunted, "Make me."

The brunette moved one of his pawns forward.

* * *

Darkness, it was a space, a manifestation and not quite.

There was no sight, nor light. No taste, sound or smell. There was no sensation, no such thing as heat, or the cold. No life and no death.

There was nothing else with him in the void, none of existence but he himself.

He floated in the vast, empty blackness. Just there, hovering, existing, something tangible yet intangible at the same time. He felt everything and felt nothing all at once. He was everywhere and nowhere at once, the only thing in the vacuum of non-existence. And the darkness was peaceful.

Then it happened, a sudden flash of red.

An unpleasant pulse travelled through him, through the darkness that used to be safe.

The red was gone, out of sight but he felt it.

It was still there, watching, a dark, crooked smile on its face.

It twisted, spread wider, far beyond what the darkness could comprehend.

Fear coursed through him, the invisible veins in the dark.

Soon, it was no longer just the red, or the fanged sneer.

Limbs extended out of it, limbs like the thick, boneless arms of the octopi, denser than the non-existent darkness, blacker than what could be sensed. They grew, longer and blacker and reached for him, where he was everywhere and nowhere, wrapping around everything it could find.

He felt the slimy, sinister touch of the appendages, everything it found was turning into pitch, darker than black.

It consumed him, ate him whole, as his non-existent self screamed and struggled and scrambled, to flee away from this darkness that changes him.

Like a serpent that chokes its prey, injecting dark venom into him and devours him.

And he was gone, nothing else remained but the pitch-like darkness.

 _You are mine._


	9. Penalty

**A/N:** **Well, this chapter is out. Like, _finally_.**

 **First off, I want to apologize but this chapter sort of killed me, along with studies and all the final year stuffs and teachers pressuring people and stuffs. I was meaning for this to be out _wayyy_ sooner but no. To be clear, I had attempted this chapter three times, well four now and it doesn't look right for the most part. Then I decided to go read some other fandoms to get some uhhh, motivation…? Well, whatever it was, I wanted it back. And I fell down a really deep rabbit hole (cough thorki cough). …No I am not into incest. In my defense, I preferred the more innocent… stories… yes… I suppose that's right.**

 **(awkward silence)**

 **Uh, so enjoy the chapter? I apologize if it's a little shitty, heh.**

* * *

He won.

L really shouldn't be surprised that he had won, he usually does. Well, always.

He thought about how the game had played out yesterday and admitted he did cheat a bit in the beginning. It was an attempt to bait Light to attack him and it worked well.

Too well, in fact.

L had counted on him striving to put him in his place. What he did not expect was that Light had managed to keep a cool head to corner him on almost every turn. Taunting him during the game would be unscrupulous, especially in a match like this so L did none of that.

Light had claimed the first deciding round and L, the second. L managed to win the third round by a small margin.

What L thought the most unnerving over the course of the three games of chess was the fact that Light would have won instead of him, if Light had not made that slight blunder in the beginning. By the time he had realized it, it was already too late to salvage it, unless L also made some mistake of his own. It was not to be, as L had put every ounce of his focus and patience into that. Nevertheless, the teen made an impressive show of perseverance right until the very end.

L was thoroughly amused by the frustrated look on the teen's face. It was quite the strange expression, seeing it on Light, his deeply furrowed eyebrows and the slight downward curl of his lips.

It was adorable, in a funny way that L almost felt sorry for him.

Unfortunately for Light, the detective planned to make full use of his prize.

"Well, Light-kun," the detective shot a brief smirk as he happily wriggled his toes, "I believe you should put the game away now."

Light, who was staring distastefully at his feet, shot a glare at him, "Your orders do not take effect until _tomorrow_."

"You can't add new rules to your game," L fiddled with his lip, letting Light catch another flash of his victorious smirk. "It takes effect the moment Light-kun lost, which was at 9:14pm precisely. You have 71 hours and 59 minutes left, so enjoy this."

"I didn't say anything about the time when the penalty starts."

"I shall not disturb Light-kun in this ridiculous game while you sleep," the detective stated, tapping his lips with his thumb. "Shall I stop the countdown as long as Light-kun sleeps, or shall I be merciful let the hours pass by?"

Light glowered at him, "Let it pass."

"Hm? I wonder which option is better?" L made an act of pondering and gave him an impish smile, "I'm leaning towards the first one."

"No, Ryuuzaki!"

"Well, if you insist, I'll stop the countdown."

"I will _murder_ you in your sleep!"

"Good luck with that," L said as he let out a chuckle, "Now for my first order, Light-kun should put the board away."

Light glared at him, refusing to move.

"Light-kun…"

"I'll make a deal with you."

"Oh? Light-kun is seeking a bargain, huh?" L gave him an innocent, inquisitive look, "What shall it be? Suffering through some sweets with me? Going on a date with Misa? Or wearing my shirt and jeans for a few days?"

Light seemed to turn paler with every suggestion.

Before he could answer, L added, "I would only consider it if Light-kun chooses to do any of the three, or all of them."

Light shot him an incredulous look and softly muttered, "The first one."

He swore L's smile turned evil right at that moment.

It was gone before he could determine whether he could confirm what he saw.

"As you wish," L said, "I'll get Watari to prepare one for tomorrow."

"What exactly will that be," Light asked, worried now.

"You'll see."

* * *

"I have to eat _THAT_?!"

The whole room turned towards the sudden shout, where they see Light and L at their desks. L was in his chair, nibbling nonchalantly at his nail. Beside him, Light appeared to have shot up from his chair, as it rolled away from him slowly. He stood gaping at the sight behind him.

It was Watari with his cart that he usually wheeled snacks and tea in with. On it was a large, two-tiered white cake that looked more at home at a wedding. On it were intricate decorations, the first layer held a sort of vine made out of chocolate, colored in various shades of green and made to look realistic. Chocolate roses dotted the cake here and there, as the vine climbed all around it. There was even a butterfly perched on top of one of the flowers. It had looked so life-like that it seemed as if it were about to take flight at any moment. On top of the cake was the top of the entire plant, containing more leaves and roses that looked as though they were reaching out for the sky.

"Yes," L said and even Aizawa could almost hear the smile in his tone, "I had it ordered and made specially for you, all the way from France."

Everyone stared at the towering cake in astonishment.

"You did what?" Aizawa blurted.

"I ordered a cake."

"Yes, but…"

"It's a deal I made with Light-kun."

The brunette finally recovered enough to protest as he gestured to the cake quite clumsily, "I can't possibly finish that!"

"What do you mean?" L said, "I haven't even had Watari add the finishing touches yet. Watari, please."

They stared as Watari pulled a jug of golden, viscous substance from the cart.

"What is that?"

"Caramel," L supplied helpfully.

"Watari, _no_!"

Light let out a cry of despair as the older man proceeded to slowly pour caramel all over the cake.

"It's part of the deal," L said while Light stared at the cake in horror, now with thick caramel dripping from the chocolate leaves and roses.

"Ryu-"

"Light-kun has to finish the whole cake."

Light turned to him stiffly and plastered a strained smile on his face, "Why don't we share the cake, Ryuuzaki? You would like some, won't you?"

The detective proceeded to stare at the cake. He seemed to be in a deep thought as he considered Light's suggestion.

"That sounds like a great idea," L said, "I would like some cake, I really do. And that one over there looks especially delicious."

Light was partly relieved to hear that, perhaps he could just have a slice while L takes the rest, that might be something that saves his life from an early demise from diabetes.

"Of course, I have foreseen that."

Light spun to look at him.

L smiled as he said, "That's why I have ordered two cakes."

At that, Watari left and promptly came back with another cart with a much bigger, four-tiered white cake, filled with all sorts of fruits, biscuits, chocolate, candy, syrup, whipped cream, sugar and nuts on every layer. On top of it is a large black L that, if one is familiar with the detective's preference, would know that the entire thing is edible.

"One for you and one for me," L said, "I could share some of mine with Light-kun if you wish."

His expression crumpled.

* * *

Light sat at his desk, staring blankly at the excessively sugary piece of chocolate cake he have yet to touch, the bulk of it slathered in smooth, thick caramel that doesn't look like anything that could be eaten. What's worse, Watari had generously added parts of the decoration to his plate. Chocolate roses now oozed a thick, white liquid that he figured to be vanilla cream that had previously been contained within them. They formed tiny puddles here and there, wherever the roses were placed.

As if that wasn't enough, he can _smell_ the cloying sweetness of the cake from here.

Light forced down the urge to throw up. He turned to face L and conveyed with his eyes that he hoped the detective was joking.

Beside him, L had already started on his second piece of cake, along with all its chocolate, sweets, syrups and biscuits and still enjoying it thoroughly. Watari wordlessly cleared away his used plate and refilled his teacup, one which L began to drop sugar cubes in while he ate the cake with his other hand.

Soichiro stood behind them and questioned, "What are they doing?"

Matsuda seemed equally puzzled, then made a noise of affirmation and nodded to himself as he finally remembered last night.

The former chief stared at him, "What?"

"I think Light-kun lost a bet."

"A bet?"

"A game I think," Matsuda pondered, "So this is the penalty?"

"I could never imagine that he would agree to this."

"I didn't either," Matsuda thought he could imagine Light's pain from here and commented, "Poor kid."

Light silently bristled when he heard that.

L, who ignored the hushed conversation behind him finally took notice of Light's staring. He turned, and raised a brow. Not that anyone would see it, though, so it looked more like L had cast Light a bland stare.

"Yes?" L inquired.

"I hate you," he muttered.

L didn't seem too bothered by his statement, turning back to shovel more cake into his mouth, "Tell me something I don't already know."

"I'm doing to smother you in cake."

"Sounds like a great way to go," he mumbled.

Only clinking noises were heard as L finished up his cake. Watari cleared the plate away and placed another in front of him, with more cake, sugar, fruits and chocolate. L happily took another bite out of it and Light turned away in disgust.

The teen stared at his own plate, reluctantly picked up his fork and speared it through his cake. As he expected, the thick layer of chocolate gave way easily, the fork cutting a creamy path through it like putting a hot knife to butter. He managed not to cringe in disguise and broke away the small piece.

Light stared at it.

L watched him out of the corner of his eye as he continued to devour his own cake.

Light slowly, slowly brought the cake to his mouth, his eyes squeezed shut as he does the unthinkable.

 _Don't think. Don't think. Just chew and swallow._

He failed and registered every bit of the sensation. It was smooth, it was creamy, it was disgustingly, cloying _sweet_. The chocolate that had just begun to melt spread all over his mouth, everywhere that it could reach, like some sort of abominable disease.

Light swallowed quickly and the sweetness clung to his throat, its taste lingers in his mouth.

He started to think about the amount of times he will spend brushing his teeth today when L suddenly said, "Is Light-kun going to finish that?"

Light turned to stare at him blankly, he looked like he had died inside a little.

He worked his jaw and winced at the faint taste of chocolate, "No?"

"I'll have some of it, then."

L reached over, took the plate and stuffed half the cake into his mouth without a word.

Light stared at him in equal parts horror, disgust and confusion, "I thought you said I was supposed to eat all of it?"

"Let me tell you something, Light-kun," L mumbled with his mouth full of cake.

Light waited.

He said nothing as he chewed and finally gulped it down, his tongue flicked out to capture any stray smear of chocolate or crumbs.

"I actually ordered two cakes for myself," he took another bite, his speech became muffled again, "I have no intention of letting Light-kun eat an entire cake except to pull his leg."

The teen stared at him incredulously, "You… You _tricked_ me?"

L turned to him as Watari took away both plates and replaced it with a new piece, "And you fell for it, congratulations."

His expression slowly transformed to form a deadly glare, "I will kill you."

"Mm-hm," L hummed casually as he continued his feast, "Some tea, Light-kun?"

"No, thank you," he snapped, turning away from the infuriating man.

L smacked his lips and informed, while he crammed another piece of cake into his mouth, "Your end of the deal has been completed, so I will allow for the time to pass while Light-kun sleeps."

Light glanced at him briefly.

"However, that also means that the penalty starts now," L gave him a small, crooked smile, "I wish Light-kun an enjoyable experience."

* * *

"Light-kun, please pass me that piece of paper."

Light glanced at him, where L pointed at the stray document that was placed between them. He thought he hadn't notice it there before and he didn't know who had put it there. The teen was half-convinced that L had put it there himself, if only to test how far Light's resolve went.

He wasn't going to back out from the rules that he made up himself, so he picked it up and placed it into L's outstretched hand.

L snatched it over and held it up in his pincer grip. He seemed to be reading off of it and Light left him to that, resuming his own work.

It was less than a minute later that L issued his next command.

"Would you look into this for me?"

Light peered over, having no idea what L was alluding to.

"This car crash, this morning," L said, beckoning him closer to take a look at his screen. "Kira could be connected to this, so please investigate, find out what you could."

Light pulled a face, "Can't you do it yourself?"

"I'm busy."

"With what?"

A small smile crept across his face, "Cake."

Light stared at him.

L stared back.

"Fine," he snapped, turning back to his computer to search on it, even when he knew, L did not think it was related to Kira at all.

It was part of the deal, after all.

"Light-kun."

"What?"

"Tell Mogi-san to search for this," L stated abruptly as he held a list to him.

Light wanted to punch him in the face, the bastard wasn't even looking at him!

He muttered under his breath and took the paper, then realized that he wasn't going anywhere with the chain connecting the both of them. Light unhappily called Mogi over, silently apologizing for the older man's inconvenience.

Soichiro watched in puzzlement as L sent his son on another task, when there is absolutely no reason for them as the two are constantly next to each other. At first he wondered if this was another prank, or L was pulling something strange or Light was being forced into it somehow because there was just no way his son would take this calmly having seen most of their interactions until now.

He stood, propelled by the strong intention of going over to confront L.

Aizawa noticed, "Chief?"

"What are they doing?" He demanded.

Aizawa glanced over and caught another instance where L unnecessarily sent Light to take the tea from Watari instead of waiting for him to come over.

"Oh, right, this. They made some kind of bet last night, something about the loser having to obey the winner for, I don't know, three to four days?"

"Another one?" Soichiro turned to look at him, "Why didn't I hear about this?"

"You left before they started their game," he shrugged.

Soichiro looked torn between continuing on his previous course of action, to go over and get L to stop all these nonsense by sending his son on all sorts of stupid errands. However, Light had said nothing about it and presumably agreed to this bet so he might seem like he was overreacting.

He sat down and resigned himself to just watching them, making a note to himself not to interfere unless this bet of theirs went out of hand.

What was Light thinking when he agreed to the bets anyway?

Soichiro watched, helpless as L sent him on another pointless task.

* * *

The second day started out similarly, with L making him do everything while he himself lounged around and eat the remainder of his cakes.

Suddenly, the influx of orders stopped. Soichiro found himself witnessing a rather queer scene, where L crouched as he stared unblinkingly at Light and Light sat facing his computer screen.

It didn't look like Light was doing anything out of the ordinary but he thought he got a sense of frustration from L as he tore his eyes off of Light and stared at his own screen.

Seeing that nothing happened for the next couple of minutes, Soichiro reluctantly turned his attention back to his work, keeping an eye on the two just in case.

* * *

This is wrong, this is all _wrong_.

L sat gnawing on his thumb, thinking about how things have taken such a turn. He didn't sit staring into the darkness all night, thinking about a thousand more ways to annoy the brunette with this bet that the teen have conjured up to, at the very least, irritate him. The results of the games have backfired so beautifully and yet, what is this atrocity that had turned up instead?

The detective had spent the first few hour saying nothing, to send Light into a short period of paranoia, waiting anxiously for the commands that wouldn't appear.

L thought he had looked strangely vacant during that and figured that he wasn't allowing him the satisfaction of his anxiety.

He had called his name, making him think that it would start.

But no, it was just to ask him what sweets he should get for dinner that night, even though L had already decided what he would eat that day, and the day after, and the day after the day after.

Light showed no reaction whatsoever.

L let him wait for a while more, before suddenly bombarding him with unnecessary orders.

He had watched intently, diligently scoured for any hints of annoyance that would simply highlight his day.

There was none.

He was dumbfounded, even the teen's eyes that were quite expressive these days showed absolutely nothing. It was as if he wasn't actually there.

The detective made him run even more, the moment he sat down he was issued a new order, L did not allow him to rest for more than a second and the commands kept coming, one after another. He was expecting Light to explode after about two minutes of this but the teen was calm and annoyingly blank.

The thought that Light might be trying to irritate him passed through his mind. It was possible but there has to be something in his eyes at least, a flash of emotion perhaps, a sudden hesitation to get his anger under control, some kind of determination in his demeanor to get through these.

Nothing.

There was absolutely nothing and it invoked the feeling of unease within him, it was as if Light had decided to shut down at some point between yesterday and this morning.

L refused to believe that Light would take this without a word. By the time L had stopped and Light can finally sit down, his screen had shutdown on its own due to inactivity. Light stared silently at his screen for a moment, before gaining some semblance of mind to turn it back on by moving the mouse.

He looked like a lifeless robot.

L didn't like the thought that entered his head.

Eventually, Light resumed his task, the monotony of his typing and clicking served to unnerve him even more.

If Light had done this to irk him, it had certainly worked.

The detective sat silently, locking the teen in his sights, not allowing a single detail to escape. He wanted to catch some form of emotion, anything other than this void of a person in front of him.

There was none.

How on earth did he manage it? L wondered whether it was truly the absence of thought and feeling. If not, he couldn't figure out just what kind of resolve that the eighteen-year-old had childishly taken on overnight to be able to ignore such absurdity like this.

The visage of A entered his mind unbidden.

No, it couldn't be. Although, this absence does bear a resemblance to _that_.

It doesn't make sense, though. Light was fine the past few days, there was no signs of strange behaviors that might've led to this. But this sudden ability to ignore him to such an extent does not make sense either.

L did not like the look in his eyes.

The detective decided to just play along for now, subtly keeping an eye on the teen as he continued on his work blankly.

The tea that he had made Light bring over is still on his desk, faint wisps of heat rising out of it, the darkened liquid let out a scent that made L wrinkle his nose over how unsweetened it is. The bowl of sugar still sat untouched next to it.

L reached for it, intending to dump them all into his tea when he was struck with an idea.

Considering how much Light loved hygiene and his clothes…

He suppressed a dark smile.

If the commands didn't manage to drive him up the wall, this would do the trick.

L pulled the bowl closer to himself, took the sugar cubes and begun to stack them up one by one, as people usually see him do. He did it carefully, aligned the edges perfectly such that the tower looked like a tall, white, solid tube.

Soon, it went over his monitor and continued to climb higher.

L acted as if his long arm couldn't quite reach the top of his tower and in one feigned, clumsy movement, he made his chair slide over slightly. He finger crashed into the tower, it collapsed, pieces falling apart and flying everywhere.

White sugar landed on the desk, on his keyboard, the floor and even on Light, who blinked once at the sudden hailstorm of sweetness. Some of the Taskforce members noticed and stared at the scene wide-eyed.

L held the final cube in his thumb and finger, and muttered, "Oops, I seemed to have caused quite the mess."

He waited for the reaction that never came.

L stared at Light who remained staring blankly at the screen as if he's a statue.

He blinked, once, twice and had to control himself not to blurt out what he is really thinking about this unearthly occurrence.

He very calmly said, "Would Light-kun clean this up for me."

It was quite possible that Light is trying not to lash out so L decided to test that further.

He moved and picked up the pieces of sugar that was on him, on the desk, the keyboards and placed them in a pile on the table. Light proceeded to bend down and started on the sugar on the floor.

L was taken aback, in fact, he was speechless, unable to comprehend what is happening right in front of his eyes.

This is too much.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Soichiro moving closer, his expression livid.

L hopped down of his chair, quicker than anyone had witnessed. The detective grabbed his arm and caused him to drop the sugar cubes that he had been picking up.

"Come with me," he said as he dragged Light off without hearing a reply.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Soichiro wasn't allowed a chance to demand an answer when L took off with his son.

He made after them but they have already disappeared from sight. He looked up and down the hallway, seeing nothing. Soichiro returned to the workroom, lost with anxiety over the state of his son.

* * *

L slammed the door shut and turned to face the teen, "What the hell was that?"

Light stared at him blandly, the emotionless gaze creeped him out a little, "What?"

L managed not to splutter as a reaction and wondered how on earth Light almost managed to drag that out of him. He composed himself and demanded, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"This is an order, Light-kun," L said firmly, "Tell me, what is the matter with you?"

"What do you mean?"

His expression hardened, "You can't ask me questions."

"How am I supposed to know what you mean, then?"

"Why on earth are you behaving this way?"

"In what way?"

"Being so… _strange_!"

"Define strange."

L lost control then, as he growled and advanced on the teen, his expression morphed into one that resembled anger but not quite.

An emotion flickered in Light's eyes at that and he struck out as a reflex, nailing the detective in the jaw. Light's eyes widened, he hadn't mean to punch L in the face.

He backed away, "I'm sor-"

L snarled and pounced on him. Before Light knew it, he had fallen into the bed. Cold hands fell on him, One trapped his wrists above him, while the other closed in around his neck but did not squeeze. His brain caught up to him and he stared up, his shocked eyes meeting a dark, swirling pair.

The detective looked like he was mad and in that moment his eyes were so expressive that he worried he wasn't looking at the same person.

Then there's the matter of the hand around his neck.

"Tell me what's wrong with you," L growled, his voice tight.

Light just stared at him.

Slowly, the anger in L's eyes were replaced by surprise, as he began to register their positions and the fact that he had apparently lost a hold on his emotions.

Then, his expression bled away into nothing.

L was silent as he backed away and released Light, who stared at him like he'd never seen him before.

"Won't you answer me?" L asked in a lower and more controlled voice.

Light shook his head slowly.

L scrutinized him from the side of the bed, as the teen tentatively sat up and watched him, as if expecting that he would explode into violence at any moment.

The detective gathered that he would learn nothing and turned, hiding his frustration and astonishment at his lapse in control.

"We shall return to the workroom," L said.

As he led Light out, he softly added, "I apologize."

Light said nothing in response and the silence between them stretched throughout the day.


	10. Fallout

**A/N: Well, hello people, it has been a while isn't it? Months, in fact. Hehhehehe... Wait! Don't kill me, I have excuses. It was my final year at school so there's these exams. I tend to work on my stories all the time so I was convinced to stop focusing on my stories and on my studies instead, which was really boring. I finished the exams a month ago but well, I have citizenship issues to settle and moving issues so I didn't have time. And when I did, I tried to continue from where I left off and well, I have no idea how to do it! It was way too long since I touched these and was absolutely lost on how to continue. So it took me a while to reacquaint myself with everything and this story especially. Just as I was losing hope and was about to give up and not continue this for even longer, a review came! So I would like to thank, uhh (squints at username) Shadowcynder1830, for reviewing this story when no one else did and giving me the motivation to try harder to continue this story. So here we are! I apologize if it seems a little shorter than usual but it'll get better, I promise. Until then, please enjoy my meagre offering of a chapter and please don't be mad :(**

 **For those who are subscribed to other stories, I will be uploading those soon as well. See ya!**

* * *

"…ra."

L blinked, startled out of his musings. He turned to look at Light who was fast asleep next to him. The teen seemed peaceful, so L wasn't sure if he had imagined the voice when he was preoccupied with coming up with a new plan to deal with the new Kira. The detective stared at him, watching for any signs of disturbances.

It wasn't long before Light frowned and shifted in his sleep.

"Kira…" he mumbled, then turned over to face away from L.

The mumblings were nothing strange but it was the first time that L had heard something audible coming from Light while he was sleeping. L settled back into his crouch, troubled.

He was brought back to his earlier worries, was Light the victim? Or the unknowing instigator who had purposefully made himself unknowing? Or were it all a psychological issue? The boy had been exhibiting some rather strange behaviors, not mentioning the drastic changes in his behaviors.

Or did he know? Was that why Light had refused to say anything about his problems, his refusal to sleep and sudden fixation on staying awake?

To avoid his dreams?

L glanced over at him, where Light showed no other signs of moving.

It does makes sense, he had suddenly avoided sleeping one day and had troubled nights where he was rudely awoken by some sort of fearful dream.

However, it could also be that Light is slowly remembering about himself as Kira. L could not dismiss that possibility as well, if Light's nightmares were due to the things that he had done while he was Kira, when he was without Kira's influence. As someone without the memories of the terrible things he had done, it is highly likely that he would be highly disturbed by those memories.

The detective looked over to the mirrors that are all covered up by the blankets.

Light could also be avoiding his own reflections over either the fear or disgust of seeing himself when he had remembered what he had done. That was plausible, regarding the environment that the boy had grown up in. However, that was before the other change, where L felt that Light had shut himself off completely. Was it due to him realizing that these were not mere dreams?

If so, were the reflections that he had been avoiding of Kira?

That would explain the latest theory but it might allude that Kira and Light were not the same person and that Kira was some sort of supernatural entity that could transfer itself between people once it was cornered. If that were the case, how on earth would they even sentence Kira if they manage to catch him?

L sighed, unable to make headway in this conundrum. There were too many unknown variables, mainly because of the supernatural aspect of the case. L had done disturbing cases, he had done highly confusing cases with intelligent crooks, he'd done highly dangerous ones where he had come close to losing his life but never was he unable to come up empty-handed for so long.

Perhaps, if he was able to get Light to reveal something soon. Until then, he will have to play along with Kira's plans, for if the entity was indeed moving between people; it is certainly trying to lead him into some sort of trap. In the meantime, the detective will have to come up with precautions of his own.

It will have to be a gamble then, if he were to rely on Light for parts of the answer. It will depend on whether Light does indeed see him enough of a friend to prevent him from meeting his end. Whether Light even has the ability to provide him with something, if Kira was the one influencing him and not the other way around. If he were to speak, L might be able to help him if that was what he needs.

* * *

Light was just done with his morning shower and making his way out of the bathroom when he spotted a rather large object in the doorway. L was looking straight at him, expression blank and certainly making no move to let him out.

Light sighed, having grown tired of his eccentricity. "Ryuuzaki, what are you doing?"

"Light-kun still has not answered me," L said, still staring at him.

"What the hell?" Light looked at him incredulously, "You don't just crowd people like this, do you have no social tact or something?"

"Light-kun is avoiding the question."

"Move, you overgrown idiot!"

"Why do you still not answer me?" L demanded, having blocked the way out of the bathroom.

"There is no answer!" Light growled in frustration as he tried to shove the detective out of the way. For a person who looked so scrawny, the brunette would have never guessed that he was so hard to bodily move. "Now would you get out of my way?"

"There is obviously something bothering you," L said, determination glittering in his eyes, "I'm not going to move until Light-kun tells me what."

Light glared at him, "We have work to get back to, Ryuuzaki. Stop being so stubborn and _move_!"

L huffed and continued in a softer tone, "Light-kun, I am concerned about you. Am I not your friend? Am I not allowed to be worried about you?"

The teen was at the peak of his annoyance and had run out of patience ages ago. He looked L dead in the eyes and snarled, "Why? Do I look like I'm just going to stupidly slit my arms like a spineless _idiot_ if I don't tell you?"

Silence ensued as both genii stared at each other, anger blazed in Light's eyes while L's dimmed into cold shock.

"Perhaps I should not have told you about that," L muttered after the long pause.

Light got right up in his face at that.

"So? What are you going to do about it?"

L glared back at him, his mind made up, "Hand."

Light held his arm up, challenging him.

The detective slapped the cuff back onto his wrist, Light managed not to wince as the cuff struck his skin with a harsh, burning sting. L then proceeded to drag the teen out of the bedroom, deliberately not giving Light to prepare or fix anything else about his appearance. The other said nothing about it, determined to not let L get the satisfaction of having riled him up even further.

* * *

"Tea?"

"No, thank you." L growled.

Watari raised his eyebrows, for L had never been this rudely dismissive towards him before. He glanced at Light, who similarly sat glaring at his screen and almost completely ignoring everything else that goes on around him. Matsuda, the most emotionally attuned of the group had pretty much avoided the immediate vicinity of the two, in fear of having a fight break out with him nearby.

Well, perhaps he might have to take a look at the camera footage to figure out what's going on between the two.

As Watari walked away and out of the room, Soichiro approached them with an uneasy look on his face.

"Ryuuzaki."

L half-turned towards the older man.

"About the issue of the new Kira," he half-reminded and half-demanded, "Are you not going to do anything about it? The numbers of deaths have been going up."

L blinked at him.

Soichiro, undeterred by the staring, looked back at him as he waited for an answer.

"Yes, you did ask for a solution didn't you, Yagami-san?"

Soichiro looked mildly puzzled at that, "Yes, I did."

"Hm, yes, I have worked on it," L mentioned lightly, the casual look on his face a mismatch with his earlier demeanor. He nibbled on his thumb briefly, "Light-kun?"

Light turned to face him stiffly, anger plain on his face and much more obvious than the fury brewing within the detective.

"What?" He snapped.

Before Soichiro could tell him off for speaking like that, L cheerfully asked, "I did tell you what you have to do for me, right?"

"What?"

"I didn't? Oh dear, it must've slipped my mind."

L didn't provide much more after that. Light bristled with anger that L had dared to make him prompt another time.

" _What_ , Ryuuzaki?"

"Light…" Soichiro started.

"It's nothing much," L said pointedly, "We need to get closer to Yotsuba, if Light-kun did not figure it out already, I have expected more from him."

Light managed not to punch him in the face as he glowered at the detective.

"Of course, that meant a little infiltration. Just a small one, mind you," L supplied, "We would not want the whole operation blowing in our face."

"What. Do. You. Want. To. Do?" Light just about snarled at him.

"It is not a lot," L said, "I want Light-kun to convince Amane Misa to work for Yotsuba."

Light stared at him, "What are you saying?"

"What, Light-kun did not know?" L goaded, "Yotsuba wishes to release a video advertisement and someone such as Amane Misa is perfect for this role. I would expect more from Light-kun to pay attention to opportunities such as this."

Light growled at him, "What does this have to do with anything?"

L smiled at him, "Light-kun isn't concerned that I am sending his lover to do such a dangerous mission? No wonder I have suspected Light-kun of being Kira, he's such a selfish, self-centered, cruel little boy."

Soichiro gaped at him, "Ryuuzaki-"

Light sprung from his seat and pulled L to his feet by the front of his shirt. The detective slipped off his chair as the force caused it to clatter to the floor. L managed to regain his footing before he hung from where Light was holding his shirt.

"Say it again, Ryuuzaki," Light hissed in his face.

L regarded him calmly, "It is as I've said."

The detective swiftly hooked his hands behind Light's head and slammed their foreheads together.

The teen gasped in pain and surprise as he released L's shirt and stumbled back, looking back up to growl at L.

"You're a cruel and selfish boy," L continued, presenting no reaction to the pain from the head-butt.

Light let out an incomprehensible, animalistic snarl as he lunged for the detective.

L was ready for the tackle and shoved back violently, causing Light to fall over and slam onto the floor with him on top.

"Stop it, the both of you!"

The two are deaf to the shouting of the others as they swung and kicked at the other, rage coating their vision as they growl and snapped at each other. The members of the Taskforce made a frantic dash towards them and struggled to put them apart. Aizawa was the unluckiest of them all, having been hit by a stray punch once or twice in the midst of trying to stop the scuffle.

"I knew this would happen," Matsuda whined as he peered at them apprehensively.

"Shut up and help us, Matsuda!"

"Ah, okay…" The bachelor muttered as he approached them.

He then proceeded to stand reluctantly at the edge of the fight.

"Matsuda!"

"Okay, okay!" He hesitated, "I don't want to do this!"

"MATSUDA!"

"Ah…"

Eventually, he joined them and managed to pull the two away from each other, where they glared at each other balefully, looking ready to jump back into the fight as soon as they are free of the iron grip the Taskforce had on them.

"Seriously," Aizawa complained, ignoring the throbbing pain above his brow, "Why are you guys always, **_always_** fighting?"

"Maybe we should keep them separated for now," Mogi suggested, "Until they cool off."

"That's not a bad idea," Soichiro said, looking none too pleased with them, "Uh, about the key…"

"I have one right here," Watari said, having materialized out of nowhere with a silver key in his hand.

"Oh," Soichiro uttered, puzzled at his appearance, "Thank you."

"I shall bring Ryuuzaki to another room and speak to him," Watari mentioned, a mildly stern look on his face.

"I'll do the same with Light," Soichiro said.

L and Light pretended they have heard none of that, for they have no yet let go of their anger and remain glaring at each other until they were forcibly turned away from the other. Watari proceeded to drag L out of the workroom while Soichiro set his son down on the empty couch.


	11. Pretence

"What is it with you now?"

They were in one of the smaller rooms in the Taskforce building, still on the floor where they kept the workroom. The room was unused, yet it was furnished to appear as a small office, complete with a large desk, chairs and a wall with bookshelves, filled with various books and decorations. L was seated down on one of the chairs facing the desk while Watari looked at him calmly with his arms crossed.

Watari saw that his charge was reluctant to answer and prompted, "Well?"

L cast him a glance and muttered, "It's nothing."

Watari stared at him silently where it served to set the detective on edge.

"Before I arrived and found you in a squabble with that boy," L tried not to bristle at that word choice as he shifted uncomfortably under the stare. "I was looking through the footage to see what might have caused you to behave like a fractious child."

L turned to him, the seemingly empty stare holding a semblance of worry.

"You told him," Watari stated, his tone light and non-accusatory but L could sense the undercurrent of disappointment within it.

"I wanted to help him," L muttered weakly.

Watari gave him an incredulous look, "With what?"

The detective said nothing more and Watari sighed, seemingly defeated.

"Even so, it was not an excuse to divulge such sensitive information, especially since he is your prime suspect," he said, as if L did not know better, as if he was an ignorant child.

"I know what I'm doing," he protested.

"Do you?" Watari questioned. "You were angry at him and lashed out emotionally when I have taught you countless times not to let yourself be controlled by your feelings. This is a dangerous case, L, so you can't let yourself be compromised by becoming invested emotionally."

L was silent, unable to reply and unable to explain why on earth he had let himself done the one thing that he was not allowed to do in this line of work.

"You have befriended Light," the older man started, "What are you doing to do if he turns out to be Kira? Are you able incarcerate him? Are you able to remain impartial and sentence him to death?"

The detective kept his head down, his thoughts racing.

Of course, he would be able to sentence him to prison.

But death?

He was unsure.

Watari sighed at the silence, "If you are unable to do so, perhaps we should pass the role to someone else instead."

L's head snapped up at that and he stared at Watari's blank face.

He was serious.

"No," he said quickly. "No, I can do it. I can sentence him."

Watari kept looking at him.

"I can sentence Light-kun to death," L said firmly, inserting his name to show that he did not dissociate the teen that he sees as a friend and the male that is a Kira suspect. "I can do it, Watari."

He nodded, "I shall trust you, L."

Watari began leading the detective back towards the workroom and added, "However, if you show any signs of weakness from now on, I shall have to take you off the case."

"Understood."

* * *

In the workroom, Aizawa was nursing his injuries where he was hit a few times when he tried to pull Light and L apart. Matsuda and Mogi appeared to be trying to stay out of it as Soichiro cast a stern look on his son at the sitting area.

"I have expected you to be more disciplined than this Light," he snapped, "And this wasn't the first time we're talking about this."

The brunette seemed unable to look his father in the eye as his gaze was cast to the sight, staring at nothing while he was lectured.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Soichiro demanded, "What on earth has possessed you two to snap at each other like rabid dogs?"

"It's nothing, dad," Light mumbled, hiding his face by lowering his head.

" _Nothing_?" Soichiro snapped, causing his son to flinch. He adopted a slightly softer tone, "Light, I have never seen you bodily attack anyone before, anyone. And yet, here you are, grappling with Ryuuzaki every other day, more times that I can count."

Light provided no reply so he continued, "Has Ryuuzaki done something?"

The teen shook his head, his hands curling up into fists on his thighs.

Soichiro noticed that and started to sound concerned, "Light, you can tell me."

"No," Light's voice sounded strange and Soichiro was highly puzzled at the sudden difficulty in speech, "He didn't… didn't do anything wrong."

"Light?"

Something landed on the fabric on his jeans and it took a second for Soichiro to realize that it was a tear.

" _Light_?" Soichiro stepped forward, very worried now with that knowledge.

Light flinched away before Soichiro could touch him, quickly turning his face away where he was able to catch a glimpse of the teen's simmering eyes.

"What has Ryuuzaki done to you?" He demanded, grabbing his shoulders as Light struggled to hide his face from everyone in the room.

"No, he didn't…" Light struggled to speak through the growing thickness in his throat as he trembled with emotion, "I'm sorry."

 _Sorry?_

Before Soichiro could form any sort of sentence to respond, the door hissed open. The taskforce turned towards it and saw Watari and a subdued L enter the room, the chain dragging behind him.

Light glanced at them briefly, and then swiftly twisted his face away before they could see.

Unfortunately, L did catch the sight of his face and halted in his tracks.

Soichiro's worried expression turned into a harsh glare at the sight of the detective.

"Ryuuzaki!" He snarled, surging forward towards him.

Soichiro only made it a few steps before Light quickly grabbed into his coat. He turned back to his son who still hid his face by having it lowered.

"No," he hiccupped and managed to form a shaky sentence, "It's not his fault."

Soichiro ignored Light, convinced that the detective had done something and turned back to the detective who stared blankly at them, "You tell me what you've done, Ryuuzaki."

"I-"

"Dad, please listen," Light struggled, "He didn't-"

"Why are you defending him, Light?" Soichiro turned to look at him, his accusatory tone immediately softening when he caught his expression when Light had raised his head in a panic, "Did he threaten you?"

Light struggled to answer, gasping as he shook his head, "No, no."

He hurriedly wiped at his eyes, embarrassed.

Before Soichiro could question him, Light blurt out, "It's nothing, dad, I'm just… stressed, that's all."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, ashamed.

L had not moved, staring at Light while the others tried not to be involved in their affairs. Watari did not appear bothered by the situation, softly mentioning that he will be monitoring the building and took his leave while he cast L a meaningful glance.

"Then maybe you should stop doing the case," Soichiro responded after a long moment.

Light startled, looking straight at his father with tear-filled eyes.

"What?"

"This is clearly not good for you," Soichiro started, "You've displayed too many extreme responses in such a short time, I'm worried."

"No dad," he protested, his voice still thick but he was quickly regaining control of it, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Soichiro said firmly, "You will stop helping with the case, I want you home." He turned to glare at L. "I don't care what _he_ says."

Light leapt to his feet then, "No, I want to stay to help."

"Light," Soichiro asserted, "I said no."

"Dad, please," Light tried to persuade him, "What about the people that Kira is killing? Don't you care about them? About justice?"

Soichiro began to look angry, "Do not try to play that card with me, you are my son. Nothing will be more important!"

Light, on the other hand, began to look anxious.

He turned to L, "Are you not going to say anything? You can't let me be taken off the case just like that!"

L looked startled as he was addressed suddenly.

He looked hesitant to answer, then muttered, "I am of a mind to agree with Yagami-san."

Light looked at him, betrayed before he continued, "However, it is better for Light-kun to remain here to help with the case… he had been a valuable asset."

Soichiro's eyes blazed at the detective's respond, "Ryuuzaki!"

"I cannot let him off the case," L stated.

"And yet you keep provoke him," Soichiro accused, "And caused him mental and emotional harm. I did not say anything before when you somehow convinced me to pull off that stunt with the pistol. But now that the effects are becoming apparent, I can't remain quiet anymore."

"Dad-"

L looked him in the eye then, "I assure you that I will no longer deliberately cause such harm to Light-kun. It had been proven to be detrimental to the progress of the case."

"The case?" Soichiro growled, "Is that all that you care about?"

"Of course," L answered, unfazed by the show of aggression by the older man, "I am here to solve a case, not to make friends, I am already taking a significant amount of risk revealing my face to all of you here, you cannot expect me to become involved with any of you people."

Light appeared to look struck but remained silent on the topic.

Soichiro's eyes hardened, "I want Light off the case."

"I will not allow it."

Before Soichiro could form any kind of respond, Light hurriedly grabbed his father's arm.

"Dad, it's fine," Light insisted, "I'm fine. We can get this case done quickly and then forget about all of it."

"Light…"

"Please," he muttered, "I want to do it."

"I have never denied you anything, Light," Soichiro said, "But I cannot agree to this."

"Dad, I'm begging you," Light stated, "I want to help. I can help. So please, let me stay."

Soichiro saw the unshakable determination in his eyes and finally relents.

"Fine," he sighed, clearly unhappy about it, "But if there are any more incidences, I will have to have you be sent home then."

"I'm okay, dad." Light insisted, "I promise."

Soichiro cast a final venomous glare at Ryuuzaki before stepping to the side to let L put the cuff back on his son.

L approached Light who now refused to look at him as he raised his arm.

The detective took it in hand and carefully attached the metal back around the teen's wrist.

"We should get back to work," he mentioned dully and proceeded to lead Light back to their desk while Soichiro stared at them unhappily, wondering if he should have gone through with his request after all.

* * *

The silence between Light and L continued throughout the day.

What Light had mentioned as an excuse to his father was in fact, the truth.

He was under a high amount of stress.

He was stressed because he knew he had been Kira.

Even more so when there's an entity within him that is now Kira, who is haunting him, who had tried to manipulate him back onto the path where he killed others, a being invisible to others that he could no escape.

Even more so when he had to keep it all to himself. Light has always been good at keeping secrets and hiding the truth. But this was too much. He had _killed_. He was a killer.

Even more so when he had to see the Kira Case through, which would lead to his inevitable demise.

Because he was a killer.

And even more so when L kept demanding the truth from him, truth that he could not reveal because he did not want to know how L would react. He doesn't want to be executed. He didn't want to see his or his father's disappointment when they find out.

But he had to keep going. He had to finish this, because he's a killer.

He was trapped.

Now he's tinged with melancholy, as L had stated earlier that the Taskforce is nothing to him.

That meant him too.

Light reasoned with himself, that it was a good thing, because he needs L to finish the job. He was the symbol of Justice after all. He had to do it. He had to be able to.

If not, Light would not be able to believe in him, that it was possible to stand for Justice without resorting to Kira's methods. His previous methods.

While that was all said, he still couldn't come to terms with it.

 _What had he done?_

Light grappled with that the whole time he had realized he was Kira, who he had presumably given birth to some sort of thing that haunts him in his mind and that he was eventually going to have to be caught and sentenced.

It was too much that he can't keep a lid on the storm of emotions, that a gentle tone from his father had been the final straw.

He did not deserve care or concern from anyone because of what he had done.

Pretending had never been so difficult.

While Light brewed in his anxiety, L stewed in his guilt.

He was shocked when he had seen that Light was crying. The guilt had come when he realized that he had been the cause of it.

He had asked for too much and it seemed to have broken him emotionally.

He was supposed to be impartial. L was supposed to be able to remain neutral and do what is right. He was supposed to be able to do that, even if the subject had been family or friend.

He was supposed to be the symbol of justice that will bring down any criminal.

Yet he felt like such a hypocrite.

L had already seen Light as a friend, no matter how infuriating the other might be at times. He had too much emotions invested in him to be able to judge him in the end.

The longer he thought about it, the more he saw that he would try to protect Light and conceal the truth if he did indeed turn out to be Kira.

He's already compromised.

So he hopes that Light is not actually Kira, that the former had been influenced in some way.

So that he won't have to introduce him to death.

L nibbled on his thumb distractedly, hoping that Watari would not introduce someone else to the case. He won't be able to protect Light if that is the case, if he turns out to be Kira.

There was an uncomfortable atmosphere in the workroom as they agreed that they would follow L's suggestion to have Misa infiltrate Yotsuba by joining the audition for the company's ad campaign. Matsuda watched the two warily during the discussion as Soichiro glared at L pointedly, while the other two tried their best to feign ignorance over the whole thing.

At least nothing happened for the rest of their working hours.

* * *

While Light prepared for bed that night, he couldn't help but think about what he had snapped at L while he had been blinded by anger and fear in the morning.

He stared at L who is already sitting on the bed, the empty handcuff lying on the floor next to the bed as he ignored the younger male.

Light felt shut out by the other and couldn't help but feel miserable about it.

He picked up the handcuff and put it on himself, while the detective continued to pay no attention to him.

Light climbed onto the bed and switched the light on his lamp off, plunging the room into total darkness.

There was a long silence where Light laid on his side, eyes wide open and staring at the wall as his mind kept nagging him about what L had said to him, while he unhappily felt as if L had rejected him with all that he had said before.

"Ryuuzaki," he blurt out suddenly.

Light regretted it immediately.

If he does intend to have the case end the way it should, perhaps he should distant himself from L.

However, he couldn't stop himself from continuing, the words spilling from his lips unbidden.

"I'm sorry about what I said this morning."

He could feel L turning his focus on him, his brain screaming at him to stop talking because the case did not need this. He clutched at his blanket for his stupidity.

"I'm sorry for using what you told me against you, for insulting your memory of your friend."

There was a long silence.

The logical part of Light's mind decided that it was for the best that L continued to ignore him while the emotional part suffered for it.

Light decided to give up and attempt to go to sleep when L spoke softly, "I'm sorry for pressuring Light-kun for an answer. I simply wished to help."

"I know," Light said, "And I'm sorry."

L did not say anything in response and Light managed to fall into a trouble sleep.

* * *

"Hello Light," Kira greeted, a curved smile on his face.

Light blinked at him and found himself sitting on a couch in the living room of his house. It was dark, the room lit up only by the soft glow of the wall light behind Kira. Kira was seated opposite him, wearing his collared shirt and dark brown pants, his arms and legs crossed neatly as he smiled at him.

* * *

 **A/N: I was planning to continue Chains of Fate but then decided I wasn't feeling it. Well, at least there was more content this time and this was a perfect chapter to add more father-son moments that I have failed to add in the original version. Uh...**

 **On a lighter note, I shall talk about more light-hearted things (LOL). So I was playing Assassin's Creed 4, a long time ago, there was just one moment that I couldn't forget. It had nothing to do with the** **storyline just a whim that I was going after. I think I had upgraded the ship to about level 40 or something, based on what ships I could take on. So I decided, 'You know what, I'm feeling adventurous today, let's go take on a level 3 fort, which was the hardest kind of fort to defeat. That was not only it, it was the hardest of the hardest fort, in the South-West region (I forgot what it was called, maybe Charlotte or something). It was _crazy_.**

 **I approached it and there was about 5-6 ships guarding it. They spotted me and started coming after me while the fort fired at me ship. Then a storm was brewing, and there was me trying to avoid all sorts of cannon fire and mortars and ramming and all that crazy things while the sea goes crazy. It was insane, the waves was so uneven that I almost ended up under an enemy ship at some point. So I did a little exploiting and took down small ships to repair my ship to bring it back to full health, while fighting off the other ships and trying not to get destroyed by the fort and the storm. Then more enemy ships kept coming and I was just trying to survive at that point. I swear I took on at least thirty ships and I spotted some level 60 ships. _Level 60_. How did I lived? Then I somehow cleared them all out and shoot at the fort while a couple ships kept coming to try and stop me. And then it was done. It had taken me 30 minutes and that was just about the most stressful 30 minutes of my life. After that, I quit the game and shut off the computer to go lay down. Because I just couldn't even anymore.**

 **The end.**


End file.
